The $5.1 billion budget raises tuition by 6.5% for undergraduate in-state students at the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses, and 7.5% for out-of-state students.
MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota Board of Regents approved a budget proposal that will hike tuition and drastically reduce academic programming for the upcoming academic year.
The board voted 9-3 in favor of the proposal Wednesday despite some students and faculty voicing their concerns last week, calling the cuts “historic” and the tuition increase a “disregard for its mission to ensure accessible world-class education for its undergraduate and graduate students.”
“We can all agree there are no easy choices this year,” U of M President Rebecca Cunningham said during Wednesday’s meeting. “As I stated last week, higher education is truly facing unprecedented challenges. The University of Minnesota is not immune and therefore, we have to make difficult decisions.”
The $5.1 billion budget, which was introduced earlier this month, raises tuition by 6.5% for undergraduate in-state students at the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses, and 7.5% for out-of-state students. It also includes a 7% “programmatic scope reduction.”
Tuition at Morris would go up 5%, and both Duluth and Crookston will increase by 4%. The new proposal also included a 3% pay increase for employees based on merit and a 1% market adjustment pool.
Cunningham said low-income students will not feel the tuition increase due to the state’s North Star Promise Program that provides up to 100% free tuition at Minnesota state colleges and universities for students whose families earn less than $80,000 a year.
“It is not an easy budgeting year,” Cunningham said. “For you as Regents and me as president, we’ve been called on to lead during a time of these unprecedented challenges in higher education, during a year when we face the biggest financial stressors in (a) decade.”
The board also passed a capital improvement budget that includes solar energy projects, arboretum improvements and Washington Avenue Bridge upgrades.