At a time when Michigan residents are looking to hone and retool their skills at the state's colleges and universities, tuition rates are growing faster here than nationally, a new report finds. Costs at Michigan's 15 public universities are up 7 percent this fall, while the national average climbed by 6.3 percent, according to the report released Tuesday by the College Board, a national education research and testing company. Average tuition and fees at Michigan's four-year public colleges and universities are about 30 percent higher than the national average: $7,661 for the 2006-07 academic year, compared to $5,836 nationwide.

Tuition and fees at the state's two-year colleges rose by 6 percent, compared to 4 percent nationally. The average cost of tuition and fees was $2,251 in Michigan, $21 shy of the national average for two-year colleges. Michigan's private colleges have a different story to tell. While tuition prices grew at the same rate in Michigan and nationally — 6 percent this fall — Michigan's costs were well below the national average. Nationally, private college tuition and fees were $22,218 this fall. In Michigan, they were $16,067.

Colleges attributed some of the growth in tuition to the cost of doing business in Michigan.

"This is a high-cost state for labor, health care and pensions," said Michael Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, the Lansing-based group that represents the state's 15 public universities. "That's a fact of life."

But financial aid was up 3.7 percent from 2005. Nationally, a typical student paid about $2,700 of the public college tuition tab in the 2006-07 academic year after grants, loans and other aid were applied. At private four-year colleges, the net price was about $13,200.

Source: Grand Rapids Press, 10.25.06