Despite objections from University leaders, the state is moving toward implementing a new funding mechanism for higher education that's aimed at increasing the amount allocated to school throughout Michigan.

The planned release of the state budget in January will create a new process for funding state higher education institutions. Before the overhaul, money was distributed on a school-by-school basis, but the new budget could provide a formula that will decide the amount of money given to each of the state's public universities.

This year the state allocated about $268.5 million to the University, a 15-percent decrease from last year, but that amount could change with the implementation of the new policy.

Despite the difficulty in designing a fair allocation system, State Budget Director John Nixon said in a telephone interview he's developing the formula in hopes of increasing funding for higher education.

"There hasn't been a systematic approach, so there's really no rhyme or reason to why universities are getting funding," Nixon said. "Moving to a formula really will allow us to bring all the 50 institutions together, establish a baseline and then really be able to mark our improvements, and show our improvement over time which I think will hopefully justify more funding going into the system."