Is Michigan State University really a 'blue-collar university'?

After last night’s defeat, Spartan coach Tom Izzo said to the media: ‘I’m a blue-collar guy, and I belong to a blue-collar university and damn proud of it.’ Even though Tom Izzo does a great job as a coach, does he really have the right idea about Michigan State University? Let’s take a look at a few figures to find out who the MSU students really are.

According to CollegeProwler.com, MSU currently has 38,011 undergraduate students, including 33,618 full-time students. This means 88.4 of the undergrad student body attends school full-time. As far as graduate students are concerned, 74% of them are full-time students. If we compare these figures to community college enrollment, which is more representative of the blue collar community, we find that only 40% of community college students are attending school full-time. This proves that most MSU students do not have to keep full-time jobs to support themselves like working class students attending community colleges do.

Since most MSU students are not supporting themselves with a full-time job, we are left with two options: their families, or federal and state financial aid. According to CollegeProwler.com, the average MSU tuition amounts to $11,152 for in-state residents and to $27,343 for out-of state resident. Room and board costs about $7,820 and books and supplies $980. According to the official MSU website, an in-state freshmen’s tuition and fees would cost $12,822 and housing and a meal plan cost $8,204. The site gives a total for two semesters: $21,026. Could a blue collar family afford to pay this amount for two semester of education? No. Federal or state aid must be widely distributed to blue collar students who wish to attend MSU. However, the statistics of CollegeProwler.com do not reflect the kind of aid a blue collar student would need to get to attend MSU. Only 20% of the students get a federal grant of about $4,654. State grants are more popular, with 63% of students getting an average of $2,293. Student loans are used by 47% of students who borrow about $6,644. Even if a fairly large percentage of students are getting some kind of financial aid or borrow money, the average amount of money given or borrowed does not correspond to what attending MSU cost. This means most of the students attending MSU are getting help from their families, who are not blue collar families if they can afford the MSU tuition.

Sorry Mr. Izzo, MSU is not a blue-collar university. Perhaps a limited number of blue-collar students got a chance to access higher education through athletic programs or comprehensive grants – but overall, statistics show that most of the MUS student body belongs to a class where higher education is a possibility thanks to a high income.