October 13, 1997 - Conference on higher education pricing to convene Oct. 13-15

A group of higher education professionals, college and university students and Minnesota opinion leaders will gather Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 13-15, to participate in innovative, open-ended discussions about tuition and pricing in public higher education.

The Presidential Task Force on Tuition Policy, a group of presidents from institutions of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, will convene the conference at Oak Ridge Conference Center, Chaska.

Sixty-five participants have been invited to deliberate. Besides administrators from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and the University of Minnesota, the conferees include legislators, executives from companies that employ Minnesota college graduates and representatives of student, faculty and service staff organizations.

The conference will feature presentations by national tuition experts and working sessions. The goal of the conference is to develop five to nine principles of good practice in higher education pricing that can be considered in making tuition decisions.

The agenda includes:

• Opening address Monday by Chester Finn, former U.S. assistant secretary of education and the John M. Olin fellow at the Hudson Institute
• Luncheon speech Tuesday by Tim Penny, former Minnesota First District congressman and current Humphrey Institute fellow.
• Keynote speech Tuesday evening by Pat Callan, executive director of the Higher Education Policy Committee.
• Break-out sessions Tuesday in which participants in small groups deliberate and agree on principles in higher education pricing.
• Final consensus-building session Wednesday morning led by Deborah Bennett-Leet of Professional Feedback Systems using interactive voting technology.

Darrell W. Krueger, president of Winona State University and chair of the presidential task force, will present the consensus principles at the final session Wednesday. Following the conference a report will be prepared and presented to the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is the largest provider of higher education in the state of Minnesota serving approximately 145,000 students. The system includes state universities, community colleges, technical colleges and comprehensive community and technical colleges in 46 communities around Minnesota.