Our View: Minnesota’s higher ed needs reforms - Mankato Free Press

MnSCU is in line to receive $545.4 million a year for the next biennium, a cut of $120 million. It is the fourth straight year of budget cuts for MnSCU and it will receive less than in 1999 while serving 51,000 more students than it did 12 years ago. MnSCU also is required to raise tuition no more than 4 percent over the next two years. The University of Minnesota received a similar budget cut of about 10 percent, but minus the caveat on tuition increases. In these harsh economic times, higher ed officials and lawmakers know that funding will continue to be tight. Higher education is one of the most valuable assets the state has, driving its economy by producing skilled workers and top-flight research. But if the two systems shy from dramatic change, they will suffer in quality and be less affordable to more students.