Higher education vital to success of Minnesota

Published Saturday, November 3, 2007

I want to thank the Daily Journal for Wednesday’s editorial, which draws attention to the difficulties facing the state’s higher education institutions. As a legislator, I agree with the assessment that the state should increase its investments in our colleges and universities.

Since 2003, the state has addressed several difficult budget deficits by making dramatic, painful cuts to our colleges and universities. These cuts have forced school administrators to raise tuition, reduce student services, eliminate programs, and delay needed infrastructure repairs.

The results have been predictably tragic. While enrollment has continued to grow, schools have struggled to maintain the quality education programs Minnesotans expect from their higher education institutions. At the same time, students in both the University of Minnesota and MnSCU systems have faced double-digit tuition increases. As a result, an increasing number of students are assuming dangerous levels of debt to attain their college degree.

Last session, my first as a Senator, I worked with legislative leadership to increase the state’s investment in higher education. We were successful in passing over $360 million in new funding for our colleges and universities, which kept tuition increases to a seven-year low. While this was a good start, the work is far from done. In 2008, the Legislature will put forward an aggressive bonding package to provide schools more funding to maintain and update their infrastructure. In future years, I will continue to support budget decisions that strengthen our higher education institutions.

I’m proud to support Minnesota’s colleges and universities, and I thank the Daily Journal for raising this important issue. Affordable access to quality higher education is vital to Minnesota’s future success.

Sen. Dan Skogen - Hewitt