• Saturday-What'sUP June 18 - 12:56 pm

Leonard Britz found a new meaning for the term "higher learning", with today's shot of the Michigan Tech Campus from an overlook across the Portage Canal. His vantage point, is none other than the top of Mount Ripley, which many skiers have had the opportunity to view the same scene in the winter months, but not so many folks have seen Tech's campus in it's summer attire from that peak. You have to admit, no matter if it's in the white of winter or the green of summer, the array of buildings making up this college scene is quite impressive indeed.

The traffic is impressive in Houghton/Hancock this weekend with Bridgefest... and don't forget the other 'fest' just 2 weeks from today about 10 miles north of the bridge: PastyFest on June 30 in Agassiz Park in Calumet.

What a beautiful photo of a great University and its surroundings. And on the other side of the Portage Canal we have Finlandia University's Portage Campus and the main campus located higher up the hill in Hancock. Since moving to the Keweenaw, I continue to be impressed with the magnificent view of Houghton/Hancock as well as the scenery throughout the entire area in all seasons.

Now if they could just make the other side of the Canel look as good.

Great picture of our tax dollars at work in Houghton. I assume that Dave is referring to the shoreline being cleaned up in Ripley and not the city of Hancock. In yesterdays freighter picture the AMERICAN VALOR as seen in Ontonagon is the former ARMCO of the Oglebay Norton line.

I love that picture from the overlook of Mich Tech and the Portage! It reminds me of a song from a Disney movie, "Just around the river bend". :-)

As for our tax dollars at work: I understand that not so long ago, the state paid about 80% of Mich Tech's annual budget. Now, that number is now down to only about 20% of MTU's annual budget for the last year or so. And that number might be even lower for the next fiscal year, since higher education is getting hit even harder than other segments of the state's budget this fiscal year. So much for "state schools"! Higher education is bearing the brunt of Michigan's budget woes these days. It is the students & their parents who must make up all of the difference in the school's budget caused by the loss of state financing plus regular budget increases, not only in higher tuition, but also in much higher fees, including a $500 per semester adder fee that amounts to a tax on science & engineering students! This adder tax makes Mich Tech's tuition appear to be lower than it really is. As a parent and taxpayer, I have resented the fact that most of the out of state students (which is a large population of MTU's students) are granted in-state tuition rates, reducing the amount of financial aid available to all. It's not as big a deal for taxpayers now that taxpayers are paying a much lower percentage of the burden than in the past, but it is a burden to the parents of MTU's in-state students.

Thats a great view!

Marianne: I don't know the source of your figures but I was told not long ago by some who works in administration at Michigan Tech that 73% of the budget comes from tax dollars and 27% from tuition [not counting donations and special grants]

Subsequent notes along this topic appear in What'sUP