Bill would even tuition for out-of-state U students

02/22/2007

By Norman Draper,
Star Tribune
Last update: February 21, 2007


A bill that would make Wisconsin students pay just as much as Minnesota students to attend the University of Minnesota takes the dispute a step further. It would also allow the U to give preference to Minnesota students over Wisconsin students.

The bill, authored by Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, attempts to address a sore spot in the current reciprocity arrangement: the widening gap between what Minnesota and Wisconsin students pay in tuition at Minnesota colleges. For instance, Wisconsin students currently pay $2,700 per year less than Minnesotans to attend the University of Minnesota, Morris. They pay $1,200 a year less at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

"This has grown to the point where it's ridiculous," said Peter Zetterberg, senior analyst with the U provost's office. "Especially over the last five years, it's become so great that we think things have to be changed."

Tuition is less for Wisconsin students because their charges are often based on what they would pay at a similar campus in Wisconsin, where costs tend to be lower. The gap between what Wisconsin and Minnesota students pay has grown over recent years because tuition has gone up more quickly in Minnesota.

The bill, discussed Wednesday in the House Higher Education and Work Force Development Policy and Finance Division, would apply to Wisconsin students attending the University of Minnesota campuses, not schools in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

State higher education officials are negotiating with Wisconsin officials to get a better deal for Minnesota out of the reciprocity arrangement. Susan Heegaard, director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, said she hoped negotiations would be wrapped up with Wisconsin this month.

But Heegaard said she opposes the provision that allows the U to give preference in admissions to Minnesota students over Wisconsin students.

"For every action, there is usually a reaction, and my concern would be what would happen on the other side," she said.

The language of the reciprocity agreement states that Wisconsin students are eligible to attend Minnesota public colleges and universities "on the same basis for admission and performance purposes" as Minnesota students. But Zetterberg said said U officials felt the language on admissions was vague, and they wanted to clarify it.

U officials have threatened to pull out of the statewide reciprocity agreement and institute their own system, and raise Wisconsin students' tuition to match tuition costs for Minnesota students.

Last year, 23,700 Minnesotans and 19,500 Wisconsin students used reciprocity to attend schools in other states. Minnesota also has reciprocity agreements with North and South Dakota and Manitoba.

No decision on the bill was made.