Michigan is undergoing an economic transformation like we have never seen before in our lifetimes. The dramatic effects of globalization are reverberating throughout our state and challenging us to build from our strong manufacturing base to an economic future driven by advanced manufacturing technologies, alternative energy and complemented by new emerging sector industries.

Higher education is the linchpin to our success. Two-thirds of all jobs created in the next decade will require at least a four-year college degree. 

Families all around us know this, and each day they struggle with how to afford a college education for their children. They try to start planning early, they make sacrifices and they save a little bit at a time. They know they are making the most important investment they can for their children's future. 

Our larger community - government leaders - must follow this example. It might be hard to imagine in the face of dire fiscal constraints and gridlock in Lansing how the state can afford a new public institution within Macomb County. If not now, when we lag behind the state as a whole, when we know that barriers exist, when we know that we are missing out on economic development synergies created by such an institution, when we know that students' aspirations are not being attained, when we know the economic future of our state demands it, then when? 

I served in the state Legislature more than 30 years ago when the higher education system within our state was being developed by powerful appropriations chairs from the Upper Peninsula and central Michigan bringing home the bacon. It served their home communities, but it did not serve Macomb County. Would we ever envision a state higher education system leaving out Macomb County today? Absolutely not. Now approaching 1 million people, the status quo here is unacceptable. 

An independent study of higher education opportunities in Macomb County stated it bluntly: "Without substantial increases in post-secondary educational attainment, the people of (Macomb) County will not find a path to economic and civic prosperity in the 21st century." A blue ribbon commission appointed by the governor tapped into public sentiment and concluded that "citizen concern about barriers to post-secondary enrollment and completion was the most frequent testimony in each of commission's public hearings." 

I'm not saying break ground tomorrow, but I am saying that we must move quickly toward achieving a four-year university within Macomb, and every step along that path must be building toward that goal. We now have a number of concrete ideas to pursue, an applied bachelor's degree at Macomb Community College, an economic development plan to draw out four-year degrees needed, a local cooperative effort to eliminate current barriers to students and a transformation of the University Center through a partnership leveraged by Oakland University and Wayne State University. These are the types of steps that can be taken along the path to the creation of a new four-year higher education institution that stands as a beacon for Macomb and Michigan's future. 

Levin, a Democrat, represents District 12, which includes portions of Oakland County and Macomb County. 

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