Mankato, colleges could see high ROI from Legislature

It’s hard to find a dark cloud on the horizon when it comes to the region’s connections to the five universities in the area.

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ADVERTISING ASSISTANT classes to count for college credit. Pelowski said he will introduce bills to freeze tuition. That would be a good start. And while that may allow college students a chance to whittle down that debt or at least not take on more, it also might put a little more money in their pocket to spend locally.

The biggest of those, Minnesota State University with 14,546 students, may be poised for investments from the Legislature this year as it figures out how to distribute parts of a $17.6 billion surplus. The state university system is making its biggest ask ever with a request for an additional $350 million over the next two years, a near 10% increase.

The rest of the Minnesota State request calls for $100 million for labs and equipment directly tied to workforce labor needs. Another $125 million will go toward inflationary costs.

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR Joe Spear

Part of that request puts $75 million for freezing tuition for two years, another request that is not typical. Students in Minnesota carry an average of about $31,000 in debt, about 80% of the starting salary of public school teachers.

Minnesota State leaders have made clear they’re “going all in” as Board of Trustees member and former legislator Roger Moe has described it. And with Democrats taking over all three branches of policy decision-making, there may be more of a chance for success. Democrats tend to favor more spending for things like higher education.

But this is not a slam dunk. The system itself has said it will have accountability measures that justify the increased spending with a heavy emphasis on workforce training. The system has been developing a track record for that with examples like South Central College’s mechatronics program and more short term training like certified nursing assistants who are being deployed around that state after a few months of training.

Democrat Rep. Gene Pelowski, of Winona, a longtime veteran of higher education policy and the chair of the House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee, told the Star Tribune he favors “relinking” high school programs to colleges, allowing high school

But there’s a demand side to the funding equation as well. Enrollment system wide was down 3.8% last year, though Minnesota State in Mankato has kept enrollment stable to slightly down, better than the systemwide average.

But the local university also has seen a tremendous jump in international students, especially in a rebound after the pandemic. The university was recently ranked ninth in the country for its 1,751 population of international students enrolled in the fall of 2021.

Earlier this year, MSU said 2022 enrollment could be as high as 4,000. Increases in international students have been phenomenal. The Open Door Report that ranked the students said they and their families contributed $41 million to the local economy and supported 191 jobs.

Without additional general fund money the university system said it will have to reduce the number of offerings and services to students. That’s budget reality in face of enrollment declines.

But with the winds favoring more funding for the system and MSU, the outlook appears favorable for investments in one of Mankato’s biggest assets.

Joe Spear is executive editor of Minnesota Valley Business. Contact him at jspear@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6382. Follow on Twitter @jfspear.