SAINT PAUL, MINN – Today, the Minnesota House and Senate passed the Omnibus Higher Education appropriations bill (SF 943/HF 2080). The bill would underfund two and four year public colleges and universities around the state, and will result in certain tuition increases, faculty cuts and program and service reductions at M-State and University of Minnesota campuses.
State Representative Ilhan Omar (DFL-Minneapolis) served on the higher education conference committee and released the following statement:
"Good access to higher education is a Minnesota value, but it was not at the center of the values in this bill. I appreciate the sincere effort of the other members of the conference committee, but in the end this bill is underfunded to the point that it will cause real financial harm to students. I could not vote for this bill. If we want our campuses to freeze tuition, maintain services, and improve four-year graduation rates, we need to be willing to pay the cost of meeting those goals. Furthermore, this bill does not do enough to address our student debt crisis.
This bill cannot do that, because our state budget is being held hostage by the Republican desire to provide tax cuts for millionaires and corporations, instead of funding the things we value as a state. The people who will pay for that short-sighted decision are college students and their families."
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