We must make sure college is affordable

We must make sure college is affordable
The 2007-2008 legislative session was marked by several achievements that move Minnesota forward. When we look back, I am confident one of the biggest accomplishments that will have reaped the largest benefits is our fight to make college more affordable for every Minnesota student.

Minnesota tuition began spiking in 2003 when the Governor made $380 million in cuts to the University of Minnesota and MNSCU. After five years of crushing double-digit tuition increases, we closed the gap with a 12.9% base funding increase last year. However, a large cloud loomed entering the 2008 session because Governor Pawlenty proposed $51 million in higher education cuts for 2008-09 to close our state's budget deficit.

Deep cuts that extended steep tuition increases were not acceptable. In our final budget negotiations, we fought to ensure we wouldn't balance our budget on the backs of students again. We made a significantly smaller cut of $21.8 million, totaling less than half of what the Governor proposed. Most importantly, we added language to the final bill to make sure the University of Minnesota and MnSCU couldn't push the burden of cuts onto students through higher tuition or reduction of services. Their cuts largely must be made in administration and non-student affected areas.

As a result of these efforts, MnSCU recently announced plans for its lowest tuition increases this decade. State community/technical colleges and state universities can expect a 2% and 3% increase next year. After five years of increases nearly five times that, this is a significant step forward for Minnesota colleges and universities. The University of Minnesota will set their tuition increases later this month, but due to our actions, is not expected to increase tuition any more than originally planned. We also kept in place a new scholarship program at the University of Minnesota, which was initiated in 2007 for lower and middle-income students to hold down tuition even further for those struggling the most to pay for school.

Along with reducing tuition increases, we made higher education the top priority of our bonding bill, investing nearly $400 million in higher education projects across the state. These projects emphasized technologies in emerging fields to keep Minnesota students on the cutting-edge for years to come.

Given our national economic downturn and increasingly competitive global economy, the impact of our higher education investments cannot be overstated. For years, Minnesota has enjoyed a national economic edge in large part because of our highly skilled and highly educated workforce, but we have been slipping. Our re-commitment to higher education means that thousands of Minnesota students will be able to afford college, tens-of-thousands will graduate with less debt, and countless more will attend Minnesota schools to capitalize on our state-of-the-art institutions.

Our college students weren't the only big winners this year, the long-term economic interests of our state won as well. By staying committed to providing our students with the best opportunity to get the education they deserve, we are preparing them to become valuable members of a world-class Minnesota workforce, keeping our state healthy and prosperous for years to come.