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Higher ed funds slashed in Republican budget bill

Tom Klein
Posted 4/30/11

Tuition would rise while funding for higher education would drop to levels not seen in decades under bills proposed for fiscal year 2012-13 by both House and Senate Republican majorities.

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Higher ed funds slashed in Republican budget bill

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Tuition would rise while funding for higher education would drop to levels not seen in decades under bills proposed for fiscal year 2012-13 by both House and Senate Republican majorities.

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia criticized the bills, saying they represent “the largest (higher education) cut in the history of Minnesota.”

The House bill, which passed 69-60 in late March, would decrease higher education funding by $411 million, or a 14.1-percent base reduction.

“The bill stinks,” said Rukavina. “There’s no highlights in here, just lowlights.”

The Senate bill, approved 37-27 along party lines, slashes funding for the University of Minnesota by 19 percent, or $243 million, while the Minnesota State Colleges and University’s budget would shrink by 13 percent, or about $167 million.

“The biggest problem with the higher education bill is that the cut is just too big,” said Sen. Tom Saxhaug, DFL-Grand Rapids. If approved, he said, it would devastate community colleges in the region.

Sen. Michelle Fischbach, who sponsored the Senate bill, defended the cuts as necessary to deal with the state’s looming $5 billion deficit. “It will not cut so deep that it will put the universities out of business,” the Paynesville Republican claimed.

Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, who chairs the House Higher Education Finance Committee, acknowledged the bills call for a “sizeable hit” to higher education. “I can’t tell you anyone is happy with it, but that’s what we have to deal with,” he said.

Reaction to the cuts

The bills, now sitting in conference committee, have encountered strong opposition from both education leaders and students. Sign-bearing protesters packed a large Metropolitan State University library room last week as students, faculty and administrators told Gov. Mark Dayton and a pair of DFL legislators that the GOP cuts go too far.

Dayton has proposed his own cuts to higher education, but they are significantly less. Under his plan, funding for higher education would be reduced by $170 for fiscal year 2012-13 and leave the systems positioned for additional cuts in 2014-15.

University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks said he expects higher education to bear some of the burden for balancing the state’s budget. “We’re not asking for a free ride,” Bruininks told Dayton at the meeting last week. “We know we have to be part of the solution.”

But he called the cuts proposed by the House and Senate “an unnecessary race to the bottom.” To illustrate the severity of the cuts, Bruininks said the university could close both the Twin Cities and Duluth Medical Schools and still only make up about two-thirds of the reduction.

Sue Collins, president of the Northeast Higher Education District, agrees. The district represents community college in the north including Vermilion Community College in Ely, Mesabi Community and Technical College in Virgina and Eveleth, Hibbing Community Colllege, Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids and Rainy River Community College in International Falls.

Collins noted that colleges have already taken cost-cutting measures in preparation for a budget reduction, but didn’t anticipate the deep cuts proposed by the Legislature.

Tuition caps

Colleges would have few options for raising revenue since both bills call for tuition caps. The House bill imposes a four-percent annual cap for state university students and two-percent cap for state college students in the MnSCU system.

The Senate bill proposes a four-percent annual cap for state university students and a three-percent annual cap for state college students in the MnSCU system.

Both bills recommend the University of Minnesota limit tuition increases to five percent.

Critics have condemned those measures as micro-managing colleges and tying their hands when it comes to dealing with the cuts.

“What it means is that the only way we can make up the difference is to cut programs and staff,” said Collins. “That will ultimately affect the quality of education we are able to offer.”

Even so, Collins added that she’s reluctant to pass on increases to students through tuition, noting that Minnesota is moving the price of a higher education out of the reach of more families.

Indeed, students at MnSCU schools now pay nearly 60 percent of the cost of their education — a far cry from the model of a quarter-century ago when the state paid two-thirds of the cost of an undergraduate’s education. At the University of Minnesota, tuition revenue surpassed tax revenue as a source of institutional support years ago.

Meanwhile, Bruininks said that cuts to higher education also affect the workplace. “This is about jobs,” he said, citing a consultant’s report that concluded that every dollar invested in the university by the state generates $13.20 in the statewide economy.

Dayton said he shared those concerns at the roundtable discussion last week, but remained mum on how he will handle talks with the GOP, saying he was reserving comment until the House and Senate are out of conference committee. But he left with a message that seemed to hearten those attending last week’s meeting.

“You either get better or you get worse,” Dayton said. “There is no standing still.”

University of Minnesota, Legislature, funding cuts