Rep. Gene Pelowski
NEWS RELEASE
Minnesota House of Representatives
District 28A 651-296-8637 – rep.gene.pelowski@house.mn
491 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Matt Privratsky – 651-296-6860
April 15, 2013
HOUSE HIGHER EDUCATION BILL FREEZES TUITION, INCREASES LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT OF U of M and MnSCU SPENDING
ST. PAUL, MN – The Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee will take up the House Higher Education Omnibus Bill today. Included in the bill is funding that will directly benefit students by freezing tuition at both the University of Minnesota (U of M) and the Minnesota State Colleges and University system (MnSCU). State Representative Gene Pelowski (DFL – Winona), Chair of the Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee, said his bill puts a long overdue focus on holding down tuition and reducing debt for students.
“It’s been years since we’ve had a positive number in higher education. This is the first significant base adjustment in a long time,” said Rep. Pelowski. “This bill focuses those new resources largely in two areas – tuition and debt – so we can put our resources into areas that directly benefit the students.”
Last year, the legislature made record cuts to higher education in the state budget. Tuition has nearly doubled at state colleges and universities over the past decade. The bill would increase funding for higher education by $150 million, using most of those resources to freeze in-state resident tuition over the next two years. There will also be $18 million allocated to the MnDrive research program at the University of Minnesota and almost $11 million allocated to the Office of Higher Education to increase grants for access, choice, and debt reduction.
Rep. Pelowski’s bill also includes new reforms to expand the oversight function of the legislature. They are designed to better hold the U of M and MnSCU accountable for budgeting practices that have come under fire for high administrative costs and excessive compensation for top administrators.
Rep. Pelowski’s committee held fourteen hearings on the oversight needed. His committee looked at the dramatic increase in student tuition, fees, and debt over the past six years, examined student-to-faculty ratios, and scrutinized administrative costs and trends over the past decade. The product of that work can be seen in new reforms that were drafted in consultation with the Office of Legislative Auditor to expand the oversight function of the legislature to better hold the U of M and MnSCU accountable for the money they are spending.
“The work in our committee showed a clear need for the legislature to have a greater role in the oversight of how the U of M and MnSCU are spending public and tuition raised dollars,” said Pelowski. “We found that administrative costs and salaries are growing at an unsustainable rate and students are paying the price with higher tuition and debt. That is unacceptable. The legislature needs to treat tuition increases with the same level of oversight as tax increases. This bill will start us down the road to a more accountable approach to tuition increases that have a more student-focused approach to budgeting.”
The Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee will take up the House Higher Education Omnibus Bill today at 12:30 PM.
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