ann arbor is overrated.

The argument behind this “Other Voices” piece in the News urging privatization of the U of M seems to be:

1. The university doesn’t get that much money from that state anyway.

2. Taxpayers would save money, since the university gets a LOT of money from the state.
3. The university wouldn’t have to worry about how to plan around the state budget, since it would know it’s not getting anything.

The authors seem to think that going private would better enable the U to compete with private institutions. Is there any basis for this?