Issue

What reforms are necessary to ensure that Minnesota's post-secondary education systems are producing a workforce prepared to meet the demands of our global economy and domestic needs?

Policy

Promote access and choice.

Eliminate financial barriers that prevent low-income students from postsecondary education. This will help address Minnesota's future workforce needs by making higher education more affordable thereby attracting students who might not otherwise attend higher education.

• Support increased funding to the State Grant Program and ACHIEVE, which targets state resources to low- and middle-income students in pursuit of a postsecondary education. This alleviates the financial barriers students face when accessing higher education.
• Adjust State Grant eligibility so aid is distributed more fairly among full- and part-time higher education students. State Grant dollars should continue to follow students to the postsecondary institution of their choice.
• Support instate tuition for all high school graduates. As demographics in Minnesota change, many employers anticipate a shortage of educated workers. The business community believes Minnesota needs to attract postsecondary-bound students from around the country. Out-of-state tuition makes postsecondary education unattainable for low-income students who are ineligible for instate tuition. In cases of students without lawful immigration status, students should be required to file an affidavit stating that they commit to apply for legal status if the federal government provides such an option.

Financial Transparency.

The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system are given large block grants from the Legislature with minimal restrictions on how those dollars are spent.

• Minnesota postsecondary institutions that receive state allocations should report how public dollars are spent. Institutions should view such accountability as an opportunity to publicly announce their goals and their progress toward accomplishing them. Public reporting will further inform student and parent decisions about choosing Minnesota institutions of higher learning.
• Identify separate state funding for research. The business community recognizes the distinctive and important role of the research performed by public postsecondary institutions. Institutions should identify and account for state funding used for research. To this end, the Office of Higher Education should require institutions to create a distinct set of goals and accountability measures for state-funded research.
• Continue long-term expense reduction and increase efficiencies. Institutions should strive to minimize any increase in or to even reduce overhead costs because these costs take money away from students. Systems also should reallocate resources among institutions and programs to better serve students. Institutions should set measurable goals to reduce expenses and report their progress in their annual reports.

Business Impact

Maintaining a highly skilled and well-educated workforce is essential to a strong economy in Minnesota. It is important that Minnesota's higher education system retains its current residents and attracts students from outside Minnesota so businesses have an educated workforce to support their growth. As the baby boomer generation enters retirement, it is clear that policy-makers need to anticipate the change in demographics by acknowledging that an increasing percentage of the workforce will need a postsecondary education.

It is important to the business community that institutions become more responsive to needs of the economy. The Minnesota Chamber policy creates a balance among an academic pursuit, institutional stability and student choice, which addresses the needs of the economy. The $2.8 billion that goes to the institutions finances their basic operations and many special programs. The $281 million in State Grant money that follows the student not only makes the institutions sensitive to the more immediate needs of students and the economy but also improves accessibility. From the business community's perspective, that's a good mix of meeting immediate needs and preparing for the future.

Improving education benefits the state and businesses within the state. Additional public financial support is not the only way to pursue improvements in higher education. Businesses continually look for improvements and increased efficiencies as a part of improving customer service and remaining competitive. Education needs to embrace the same mind-set. The business community believes and expects that it is not unreasonable to demand that education makes improvements through wiser and more efficient spending. There are multiple opportunities for streamlining operations, especially with respect to labor and facility costs.