The plan to slash more than $300 million over two years for college aid faces an incredulous DFL-controlled Legislature certain to take a more conciliatory tone toward college and university presidents bristling at the impossible choices the governor asks them to make.

Pawlenty wants higher ed institutions to refrain from passing on their cuts to students, but insists that if they must, they should keep tuition hikes below inflationary levels — from 3 to 5 percent. Of course, how many family wage earners will enjoy corresponding raises within the next year?

Consider the difficulties University of Minnesota officials face. U of M president Bob Bruininks said recently that tuition hikes could be kept under 10 percent under the plan, but that promise hardly merits a sigh of relief. When considering figures that indicate tuition and fees have increased 57 percent at the U of M since 2003, it represents a brake on a runaway train, but that only strikes home the fact that tuition fees are already out of whack.

According to Laura King, chief financial officer and vice chancellor for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), tuition at the 32 MnSCU colleges and universities would have to rise 11 percent next year (an average of $480 per undergraduate student). To get to the governor’s figure through staff cuts, 15 percent of MnSCU’s work force, or 1,000 positions, would need trimming. If that were faculty alone, more than 8,000 course sections would be lost.

MnSCU recently approved a 3 percent tuition hike for the fall, and if Pawlenty’s proposals remain, Minnesota State would see a cut of $7 million. State funding is 40 percent of MSU’s budget.

The governor’s office protects K-12 education by comparison, inviting a charge of disproportionate pain. Still, Pawlenty does want to continue funding a $150-million-a-year State Grant Program designed to aid lower income students attending college.

The large picture, however, is that critics who’ve charged Pawlenty with hostile intentions toward higher ed in the past have more fodder. The reality seems to be that the governor likens higher education to a collection of large cities riddled with wasteful spending — which, in these economic times, must be reversed.

Consider the 2007 Legislative session when the House and Senate approved a $3.2 billion higher ed funding bill they said makes up for past underfunding. Pawlenty vetoed it, calling it devoid of reform.

Today, with belts tightening everywhere, Pawlenty sees new justification to force colleges and universities to go on a weight-reduction diet. More budget adjustments are possible with the passage of a new federal economic stimulus plan that will send more cash Minnesota’s way, but no matter what, the state Legislature stands ready to challenge Pawlenty’s vision.

Good theater is ahead. It will provide a better look at how higher education is cherished (or not) statewide.