(ST. PAUL, Minn.) – On Thursday, the Minnesota Senate passed the Higher Education Finance and Policy omnibus, SF 2483 Thursday in a bipartisan vote of 37-28. The bill provides funding for the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State colleges and university budgets, and makes major investments to reduce tuition costs and improve access for more than 400,000 students in dozens of communities across the state.
“Just two years ago, higher education in Minnesota was facing a crisis,” said committee chair and chief author Senator Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis). “Tuition costs were spiraling out of control, enrollment was down, and families were faced with difficult decisions about getting a degree and taking on massive student loan debt. I’m proud to say that decisions we’re making at the state level have begun to reverse those trends and open new opportunities for Minnesotans. The Higher Education budget provides more than $3 billion combined for Minnesota State and University of Minnesota colleges and universities.
Just as importantly, it invests directly in our students. This bill will stabilize the State Grant scholarship program, which helps more than 71,000 students afford college each year, by investing more than $100 to help close a shortfall. We’re also continuing the best-in-the-nation North Star Promise, providing tuition-free college for all households earning less than $80,000. We’re making tuition and related costs, from rent to groceries, free for former foster youth seeking a degree.
We’re also empowering prospective students with more knowledge on where they can go, and how much it will cost. Expanding the Direct Admissions program will inform all Minnesota high school students which state institutions would admit them based on grades and test scores. Our new Financial Aid Transparency will provide a first-in-the-nation service to inform students of aids and grants available to them.
I am proud of this bill, and thank my colleagues, leaders and faculty at our public and private colleges, and most of all our students for helping us put together a great budget.”
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