In the race for state funding equity, Grand Valley State University has finished at the back of the pack for years. This year will be no different. While Grand Valley likely will close in on the competition, it will remain the lowest per-student funded of Michigan \'s 15 public universities. This is despite efforts by Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who reached a $1.73 billion higher education budget deal last week. The agreement would award GVSU a 7.5 percent increase in per-student funding -- the largest percent increase awarded to any state university. The University of Michigan and Michigan State University would see their state funding increase by 0.4 percent under the new agreement, and Wayne State University would receive 0.2 percent more. But all three universities would get at least $8,139 per student.