Taxpayers Will Fund Free Tuition for Thousands of Students

Under a new conference committee agreement to the higher education omnibus bill (originally HF2073/SF2075), students whose families make under $80k a year will get free college tuition. All of this, of course, is paid for by Minnesota taxpayer dollars.

The program will begin in 2025 and initially cost $117 million. After that, the state will allocate $49.5 million a year to fund the program.

Representative Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona) stated the goal of this plan is to “ensure that we have a skilled labor workforce that can get into that workforce and not have to incur debt.”

In reality, this free college tuition program will take individuals out of the labor force and put them into the failing public university system. All the while oversaturating the labor market with college degrees and making them worthless in the process.

The bill will return to the House and Senate for final approval before going to the Governor’s desk. Now is the last chance to stop the bailouts of public universities. Call and email your state representatives and senators.

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Russell Jackson commented 2023-05-13 09:17:40 -0500
I graduated from NDSU in Fargo in 1980 with a degree in Ag Econ. In the 4 years I attended, they did not one class on what a mortgage was, lien search, title opinion, UCC filing, etc. I learned all of these things “on the job”. Looking back, it was a waste of 4 years of my life. As a lender, it is always easier to spend money when you personally do not have to write the check from your own checkbook. If Gene thinks this is such a great deal, then let him pay for it out of his own pocket. If you ask a DFLer to pay for a social program out of their own pocket or even ask them to give you money out of their own pocket on the guise of “income equality”, they seem to find “religion” and a reason not to do it. If they will answer your question at all. I want to ask Gene Pelowski how I am supposed to heat my home after 2020 since he voted to make natural gas, a fossil fuel, illegal in the state. The DFL party must believe that all of the “dirty air” will somehow stop at the MN borders. I guess it is the “new science”.
Tucker Hittesdorf commented 2023-05-09 14:36:19 -0500
If a college degree is so sought after, how come the colleges are subsidized by the government then? I don’t see the government subsidizing classes for Class A CDLs. But plenty of companies will gladly pay for CDL classes, something the vast majority of companies are unwilling to do for college degrees.
Tucker Hittesdorf commented 2023-05-09 14:30:25 -0500
Most college degrees are already worthless. This will just increase the costs of education by inflating their employee rolls and salaries. Work Ethic is what’s valuable. We also need to end child labor laws. Some folks just aren’t interested in school because time=money and the internet is a better teacher.
William Beck published this page in News 2023-05-09 12:03:53 -0500