written by | Ben Ellgen

MinnState Presents Budget Request

The Minnesota State System presented its FY2020-2021 budget request to the House Higher Education Finance and Policy committee this past Wednesday. In addition to tuition and various student fees, our universities receive funds from the state of Minnesota. MinnState has requested 246 million dollars for the next two years consisting of:

$169 million to “fund inflationary costs” and “support the financial health of every campus.”
$37 million for the updated NextGen online system.
$25 million dedicated to student grant programs.
$15 million for “career, technical, and professional programming” to “address the workforce gap.”

Numerous individuals, including Chancellor Devinder Malhotra, testified to the House committee as to why these funds are necessary to support students across the state. To demonstrate such a need, it was shown that, at Metro State University, not fully funding the request would result in “fewer sections of high-demand major courses” being offered as well as would “limit filling critical faculty and advising positions.”

Ultimately, it is up to the Minnesota Legislature to fund the Minnesota State System to whatever degree is deemed necessary.

The full budget presentation may be found here.

Students United supports Minnesota State’s budget request and it is included in our 2019 State Legislative Agenda.