The Minnesota State Board of Trustees recently approved a supplemental budget request to pursue during the 2022 legislative session. The request includes 2 major components to stabilize campus budgets and fund an undergraduate tuition freeze for the '21-'22 academic year. In addition, the request includes funding for various important student support services.
2022 MinnState Budget Request Framework:
$30 million for campus operations.
$25 million to fund the expected 3.5% tuition increase.
$2 million for mental health resources.
$2 million for workforce development grants.
$1 million for student basic needs resources.
Click here to read the details of each of the budget items.
At the October system meet and confer the IFO provided a desire for the system to pursue funding beyond the tuition increase. We made the case that the $30 million for campus budgets was desperately needed to help stabilize campus budgets in response to declining enrollment due to COVID. Although the system was hesitant during the meeting, they took our advice and included the campus stabilization resources in their request.
The IFO Government Relations Committee will be reviewing the system budget request and offering a recommendation to the Board later this month. If you wish to provide any feedback for the committee to include in their deliberations, please email your comments to Bohn@ifo.org.
We heard from Gov. Walz at the October IFO Board meeting that he understands the importance of resources getting to our campuses. He made clear his intention to include campus funding in his supplemental budget that will be sent to the legislature early in the 2022 session.
In addition to the supplemental budget, we will be working hard to secure capital investments for our campuses currently pursuing projects. In a future communication, we will send more detailed information on the bonding projects we will work on in 2022. Click here for information on all the projects MinnState and the IFO will advocate for during the 2022 legislative session.