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HOUGHTON -- Michigan Technological University's Board of Control met Thursday as part of their fourth meeting this year.  Among the items on the agenda discussed were budget outlays and quality of education at the university.

President Glenn Mroz addressed the issue of state budget cuts and how it affects the university.

The school is working with the biggest cut in state support yet--more than $7 million in cuts for the upcoming fiscal year, bringing state funding for the university to $40.7 million.  And while the school's federal student loan default rate is down, he says other funding faces challenges.

“Our financial aid is about 22 percent of our general fund budget right now to make up for cuts that have been made to the base budget of the university,” said Mroz.  “So it’s almost like at the very time we need more educated people in the state of Michigan to populate the businesses who would like to come here, we’re going to run into a crunch.”

Michigan Tech also received a check for $160,000 from GM to fund student activities like the Advanced Hybrid Electric Vehicle and Advanced Motorsports Enterprises, several Senior Design teams, and diversity programs.