Eastern Michigan Too Reliant on Tuition Revenue - Kellie Woodhouse, AnnArbor.com

In fiscal 2011, the Ypsilanti-based university received 75 percent of its $221.4 million operating revenue from tuition and fees. That’s more than $166 million. And it's 15 percent more than the average ratio at Mid-American Conference schools in 2010, which was 60 percent. “You can see the heavy, heavy reliance on tuition and fees,” said VanDenBerg, a principal of the audit and accounting firm Plante Moran. VanDenBerg presented the results of a fiscal 2011 audit to the EMU Board of Regents at a finance committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon. According to VanDenBerg, credit rating agencies prefer “less reliance on any one type of revenue”— such as tuition. “They would encourage all universities to really start thinking about not having any one revenue source become more than 50 percent of your revenue,” VanDenBerg said.