Agreement reached on $166 million increase for higher education

House and Senate conferees reached agreement Saturday to increase the state’s higher education budget by $166 million over the next two years.  HF845/SF5*, as amended, now returns to the respective bodies for passage.

Included in that agreement is a $30 million boost to the University of Minnesota’s medical school and some tuition relief for students attending public colleges and universities. 

Much of the increased spending – $100 million – would be dedicated cover a tuition freeze for many students who attend schools in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.

But according to the report adopted by conferees, students enrolled at the University of Minnesota would not receive the full amount of support school officials say they need to freeze tuition at all five of its campuses. Instead, the bill’s provisions, would allocate $22 million for tuition relief to university students.

U of M President Eric Kaler had asked for $65.2 million specifically for tuition relief or else he said students would face up to a 3 percent increase in tuition each of the next two years. The $30 million in funding for the university’s medical school will be used to expand its campus and hire additional research staff, university representatives have said.

The conferees also agreed to increase the funding for the state grant program by $7 million.

House moved up, Senate moved down

Earlier this week, House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) announced a deal they struck with Dayton to agree on a higher education budget that would spend $3.05 billion over the 2016-17 biennium. The conference committee report would appropriate U $1.06 billion to the U of M, $1.35 billion to MnSCU and $467 million to the Office of Higher Education, which is tasked with administering and disbursing state grants and other forms of financial aid to college students.

The $166 million increase in higher ed funding from the forecasted base represents a landing point between the targets the House and Senate approved late last month, but is still much lower than Dayton’s $288.4 million original recommendations that would have covered requested tuition freeze assistance for the U of M and MnSCU.

The House omnibus higher education finance bill would have increased spending by nearly $56.8 million ($2.95 billion in total spending), while the Senate version was at $205 million (nearly $3.1 billion).

“This was a very difficult target to deal with,” said Sen. Teri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka), who co-chaired the omnibus higher education finance committee with Rep. Bud Nornes (R-Fergus Falls).

“Both Rep. Nornes and myself had hoped for and expected more perhaps…but what is before you does allow – most importantly – greater access to higher quality post-secondary education.”