By Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio News

In the next two years the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system will each receive a little over a billion dollars in state aid, 10 percent less than they received in the previous two years.

But the colleges will see more money than they would have under a Republican-backed proposal that Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed in the spring. After Dayton and Republican Legislative leaders agreed to a budget framework to end a state government shutdown, a special session of the Minnesota Legislature was called to order Tuesday.

Among the bills Dayton and legislative leaders have agreed to is one that funds higher education. The $2.6 billion bill cuts funding by 8.8 percent over current levels.

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