Legislative Notes for the week of February 5 - February 9, 2007

System presents budget request to Higher Education committees

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system testified in front of the Senate Higher Education Budget and Policy Division and the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Policy and Finance Division this week regarding the system's $177 million budget increase request. In the Senate, each piece of the request was introduced as a separate bill by a member of the committee. The author of each bill presented the initiative, and a representative from the system provided detail and responded to committee members' questions. The individual initiatives in the request include inflation, technology infrastructure improvements, recruitment and retention improvements for groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education, expansion of learning opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, increases in nursing graduates, creation of a Biosciences Center of Excellence and encouragement of management innovation.

In the House, the system’s testimony began with Chancellor James McCormick and Chair David Paskach, Board of Trustees, describing the system, who we educate, the system’s strategic plan and how the biennial budget request was prepared. Vice Chancellor of Finance Laura King told the committee that the need for funding is high because the tuition dollar increasingly has been replacing the state dollar in recent years. When the state appropriation decreases, tuition has made up the difference. Each year, the system’s expenditures have increased less than 2 percent, but tuition has gone up 88 percent over the last five years.

On the second day of testimony, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Ken Niemi impressed the committee by starting his testimony in Finnish, a language also spoken by committee Chair Tom Rukavina. Niemi told members that the technology system must be updated for four important reasons: 1) consumers demand 24/7 access, and no additional resources have been provided; 2) the system’s critical hardware and software have become obsolete; 3) no lag or downtime because, with students taking online courses and submitting tests, there should be no service disruptions; and 4) security threats must be minimized to protect faculty and students. Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Linda Baer presented the detail surrounding the budget request. With the state’s changing demographics, the system must recruit and retain students who do not typically seek out college. Similarly, the system must meet the state’s demands of producing more graduates in nursing and health care, in the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields and biosciences.

Committee members had many questions for the chancellor, vice chancellors and presidents Roland Barden of Minnesota State University Moorhead, and Cheryl Frank of Inver Hills Community College. When asked what would be the cost of not funding the request, Chancellor McCormick stated there would be a huge cost. He said that in the past, the state made higher education a priority, which has led to the great workforce the state currently has. However, he said, with recent budget cuts to higher education and the increases in tuition, the state must again make higher education a priority for investment.

Power of You program highlighted at the Capitol

Earlier this week, Presidents Wilson Bradshaw of Metropolitan State University and Donovan Schwichtenberg of St. Paul College explained the Power of You program to members of the House Education Finance and Economic Competitiveness Committee. The program offers St. Paul and Minneapolis high school graduates an opportunity to attend college for free. Federal and state grant funding is first applied; any additional funds come from donations given by local businesses. The program seeks to provide those who are low income, first generation and students of color opportunities to attend college. “Post-secondary education has to be open and has to be affordable for all Minnesotans,” Bradshaw said. Both presidents emphasized the significance of the state reaching out to students who do not typically attend post-secondary education. Schwichtenberg said, “I don’t think we can afford to leave any of these students behind.”

Veterans’ bill extends higher education benefits

The House Veterans Affairs Division approved a bill this week that would waive all tuition and fees at a Minnesota public college or university for the spouse of a deceased service member. This benefit currently is available to the children of any Minnesota service member who has died as a result of their military service and is known as the “War Orphans Act of 1943.” The bill was approved and next heads to the House Agriculture, Rural Economies and Veterans Affairs Committee. The companion bill awaits action by the Senate.

Compare Minnesota with other states

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has launched a new Web site that makes comparisons between Minnesota and other states. It is a searchable online database that provides information on business climates, major industries, economic performance, labor, innovation, energy and taxes. The site is located at www.CompareMinnesota.com.

Federal Update

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a funding bill for FY2007 this week. Included in the recommendation was a 6 percent Pell Grant increase, which equates to $260 for the highest aid recipients. This change was paid for by proposing a one-year moratorium on earmarks, which are district-funded projects that range from campus projects to area museums.

President Bush also released his budget this week. The overall proposal would provide a total of $929.8 billion in discretionary funding for federal programs in fiscal year 2008. Bush included proposed Pell Grant increases at $4,600 in FY2008 and up to $5,400 over the next five years. Other highlights of his budget include an increase in the Academic Competitiveness Grants from $750 to $1,125 for first-year students and from $1,300 to $1,950 for second-year students. Funding would be frozen for Federal Work Study ($980.5 million), GEAR UP ($303.4 million), TRIO ($828.2 million) and Adult Basic Education ($564.0 million) programs. The proposed budget also eliminates funding for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants ($770.9 million) and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership program ($65.0 million). Bush’s budget also cuts funding in half for the Carl D. Perkins Basic State Grants from $1.18 billion to $600 million and cuts out the Tech Prep program, currently funded at $104.8 million. It is important to recognize that the president’s proposal is only the first step for establishing the nation’s budget for the upcoming year. Congress will begin the process of reviewing implications of the president's proposal and will debate the budget items. It is unlikely that the final budget adopted will look like the president’s proposal.
The Bush administration also has proposed increasing the limit on college student borrowing from the federal government by $7,500. If the recommendation is adopted, the borrowing ceiling for dependent undergraduate students would be raised from $23,000 to $30,500, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Interesting higher education proposals around the country

As reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education...

“COMMUNITY-COLLEGE AID: Tennessee high school students who score well on the ACT standardized tests, but who may not qualify for the state's merit-based Hope Scholarship program, would be eligible to attend community colleges free under a program proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen. He wants the state to provide $10 million to help students who score at least 19 on the mathematics and reading portions of the ACT and earn at least a C average in high school. The governor, a Democrat, also has proposed spending more on need-based aid and increasing the amount awarded annually to Hope Scholarship recipients by $200 to $4,000.

RETRAINING WORKERS: Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan has proposed allowing more state residents who have lost their jobs to attend community colleges or technical programs in the state for up to two years at no cost. To be eligible for the program, people would have to agree to seek a degree or certificate in a field where there is a high demand for workers. The cost of the plan would be paid through a combination of higher state spending on worker retraining and expected increases in federal support for such efforts. About 18,000 displaced workers now take free classes; the governor, a Democrat, wants to increase that number to about 100,000 over the next three years.

COLLEGE ACCESS: In his budget proposal for 2007-2008, Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania has proposed creating technical college centers that would offer programs to help prepare students for careers in fields such as engineering with a shortage of workers. The governor, a Democrat, proposed $2 million to create two centers, which would be located in regions of the state with no colleges nearby. He also advocated a $2 million increase for programs that enroll high school students in college, money that Rendell said he hoped would expand higher education opportunities for students from low-income families.

TUITION FREEZE: In his first budget plan for Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, has proposed freezing tuition rates at the state's colleges and universities. If his proposal is enacted, it would be the first time in more than a decade that college tuition in the state did not go up.”