Minnesota State system colleges could see 18 percent tuition hike

With the state legislature facing a budget shortfall, money going toward higher education is a declining priority.

“Students have really enjoyed over a decade of really great support from the governor and from the Legislature,” said Minnesota State chancellor Scott Olson, ”And that’s allowed us to keep tuition [hikes], many years, at zero."

Olson oversees the 33 colleges and universities part of the Minnesota State system. With no new money headed toward colleges and universities, the Minnesota State Board of Trustees met to discuss tuition increases, which could be as much as 18 percent over the next two years.

“That's the high end of what's being considered. We had other schools that were proposing 3-3.5 percent.” Olson added.

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The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and lenth. To listen to the full conversation with chancellor Scott Olson, click the player above.

You’re in a tight spot because lawmakers don’t look kindly on big tuition increases, and 18 percent is pretty aggressive. How are you threading this needle?

Our students have really enjoyed over a decade of really great support from the governor and from the Legislature, and that’s allowed us to keep tuition hikes, many years, at zero and well below the rate of inflation for over a decade.

But this biennium, the Legislature — the state — doesn't really have much money to spend on anything. So, we believe they’re going to freeze funding for us, and that means that with the inflation we’re experiencing, we have to look at tuition as a way of keeping our quality high and our programs open.

Are schools able to set their own budgets and maybe not go as high as that 18 percent over two years?

That number, the 18 percent, is from a few institutions that were modeling 9 percent for the year ahead, and that was to keep all their programs open and not have to close any programs. So that’s the high end of what's being considered.

We had other schools that were proposing 3 to 3.5 percent. Ultimately, this all goes to the board of trustees, and the board of trustees will decide what the maximum allowed tuition is and that’s going to be decided in June.

With enrollment numbers flat and expenses going up, do you foresee more program cuts and maybe even campus closings?

If tuition is held low and inflation remains high, we would expect that some programs have to be eliminated. But we did enjoy an enrollment increase this year, and I think it was in part because of something the legislature did, which was the North Star promise. That resulted in about a 7 percent increase in our enrollment in the fall and the same again in the spring.

There’s so much uncertainty and fear among international students right now. What’s Minnesota State doing to help?

It’s a huge concern. We have about 4,600 international students across our system, and they’re all worried about about what their future holds. We’re not sure what’s going to happen with recruiting new international students.

We believe having international students on our campuses is great for everybody, great for learning, great for those communities, and it’s also great, in the long run, for people around the world understanding America. But what we’re doing right now is providing some resources to our campuses so that they have access to, for example, legal resources.

And then we’ve been communicating with the congressional delegation expressing our concern and the hope that we’ll see more support for international students going forward.

Do you worry about any federal blow back to the system because of any help you might give international students?

These are uncertain times. We have not so far — we’ve had a few of our grants canceled, and that’s problematic. But we we haven’t experienced some of the things that you’re reading about at other institutions.

We’d like to keep it that way, but we have to support our students. And these international students are our students.