Michael Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, which serves Michigan\'s 15 state universities wrote that state cuts, and tuition limits are straining the state's universities. He said universities bludgeoned by budget cuts and tuition limits cannot deliver the high quality graduates and top notch research vital to Michigan\'s economic future. "The combination of declining state aid and tuition limits is damaging the quality of our public universities and punishing students. Class sizes are increasing. We are losing out on the best and brightest faculty. Fewer positions are open in high-cost majors, like nursing. Universities are cutting staff - some 2,000 in the last three years - at a time when demand is up."