By Tom Anderson, Director of Government Relations & Zac Spohn, Advocacy Intern
Last week all committees in the state legislature in both chambers cleared their spending bills to be considered as a part of an omnibus bill. An omnibus bill are large bills with a bunch of small bills within it, usually financing/spending bills. The House and Senate Higher Education Committees released their proposed funding for the Minnesota State system and other higher education programs. The bill from the House of Representatives appropriates $68.4 million in new money over the coming biennium (2022-23), while the Senate bill appropriates only $25 million in new money over the biennium.
The bills will now move to what is called a conference committee where House Democrats and Senate Republicans will have to rectify the bill’s differences and come up with a compromise bill. The bill that comes out of the conference committee will then be voted on in both chambers of the legislature and if passed sent to Governor Tim Walz for his signature.
The senate bill mandates that Minnesota State tuition rates for both years of the biennium decrease five percent from their current rate. The House bill freezes tuition rates across the system for the duration of the coming biennium. Generally, we would be advocating for lower tuition rates. However, the Senate version of the bill does not fully fund these tuition cuts. This would mean additional layoffs and additional cuts to student services. The House bill, which freezes tuition, would give students a much-needed pause on the burden of tuition without devastating cuts to faculty and programs students rely on.
Students United also supports a provision of the senate bill that requires all institutions in the Minnesota State system to provide a tuition credit for enrolled students and a refund to students no longer enrolled. This pertains only to courses where an online differential tuition rate was assessed to students for online courses during the 2020-21 academic year that were not online the previous academic year. The House bill does not include this provision.
When it comes to financial aid, both bills make some very technical amendments to the state grant program. The Senate bill lowers the assigned family responsibility (AFR) for dependent students from 82% to 72% and from 74% to 72% for independent students with dependents of their own. The House bill amends the state grant program so that the default amount of the living and miscellaneous expense (LME) is increased from 106% to 110% of the federal poverty guilds for a one-person household in Minnesota for nine months. Both versions will expand access to state aid but an increase in the LME percentage would apply that increase equally to all recipients of state financial aid.
Continuing in the realm of financial aid, the bills from each chamber both amend the state grant program and child grant program. They both make changes that allows students who are providing care to a family member with a serious health condition another semester of eligibility in the aid program. Both bills also have a provision that amends the state grant program, exempting certain remedial and developmental courses from counting against the eight-semester cap for grant awards. Students United supports both of these provisions.
The Senate and House bill both amend the Huger-Free Campus Designation program to include Minnesota State universities, in addition to the two-year colleges that are already part of the program. The Senate bill requires the Office of Higher Education (OHE) to establish a grant process to distribute funds for the program to campuses that meet and maintain the criteria necessary for the hunger-free designation. The bill also adds a new requirement that mandates that institutions must reapply every three years to maintain their designation. Rather than a competitive grant program like the Senate bill would institute, the House bill calls for awards for the program from OHE be based on enrollment from the most recently completed academic year. Both bills would provide aid to students in need and both are acceptable as written.
The Senate bill requires each Minnesota State system institution to create a web page that clearly identifies basic needs resources available. It also calls on the system office to pursue the creation of a centralized basic needs online resource website. In addition, the bill requires the development and implementation of a financial aid resource for students that utilizes FAFSA information to identify students that are eligible for assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The House bill seeks to fulfill basic needs for students by connecting students to private mental health resources and by creating an online information hub to connect students with local resources on issues relating to basic needs, food insecurity, and housing. Students United believes that either approach to connecting students to basic needs resources would be acceptable and provide additional clarity.
The House bill includes a provision that prohibits institutions from attaching the release of a transcript to the payment of student debt. Allowing institutions to set arbitrary standards for what constitutes compliance with a payment program in order to receive a transcript is detrimental to the academic experience of students and their mental well-being. The Senate bill was amended to include this as well and Students United strongly supports the added language.
Both the House and Senate bills provide funding for emergency grants for students for needs. However, the Senate bill only appropriates $350,000 whereas the House bill appropriates $1.3 million. These grants are of the utmost importance as the student debt crisis continues to worsen and as the effects of the COVID19 pandemic continue to be felt by students. In order for students to be able to continue to attend school, have stable housing, and have enough food to eat, the conference committee must move much closer to the House appropriation of emergency grants, not the Senate version.
You can find information on how to contact your state legislators here to let them know where you stand on the issues. It is incredibly crucial that at this juncture in our society and at this point in the legislative process that legislators hear your voices. If you have any questions, you can reach directly out to our Advocacy Intern Zac Spohn.