Editorial:All must work to make higher ed affordable

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 8, 2004

It’s about time.

For the first time in several years, Minnesota colleges are proposing a smaller tuition increase for the next two years. For Minnesota State Colleges, the proposal is 4 percent. For the University of Minnesota, it’s 5.5 percent.

In recent years, colleges have passed on double-digit increases to students. In all reality, it’s more than students can bear. If the trend continues, only the elite will soon be in college, or students will have to attend on such a limited basis that it will take an inordinate time to realize their dreams.

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Students and colleges are saying the culprit is stagnant or reduced state funding for colleges. In the last two years, the Legislature cut $191.5 million from higher education to help balance the state budget.

Surely, cuts had to be made all around to balance the budget, but it doesn’t make sense to cut so deeply from all facets of education. If we want to keep young people in our state, if we want to attract industries with jobs that pay well, and if we want to be known as an intellectual state, we simply have to invest in education &045; from pre-kindergarten on up to college.

Of course, colleges can only pass on the smaller increase if some of that funding is restored.

We urge our governor and legislators to reinvest in education.