New legislative leaders may consider tuition freeze
The next minority leader of the Minnesota House the Legislature should consider freezing tuition at state colleges and universities.
Republican Representative Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, says he wants to look at a possible freeze during the 2007 legislative session.
Seifert was one of four leaders of the Legislature to appear on MPR's Midday on Monday.
Officials with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system are seeking a funding increase that would keep tuition increases below an average of 4 percent. But Seifert, who works as an admissions counselor at Southwest State University, says his preference is no increase.
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"We've kind of said 'trust me' with the boards. We've given them money and say, 'Well we're just going to let you figure out what you want to do.' And this business of 'I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today' with these boards, I think, is going to come to an end. I think the Legislature... we're the ones knocking on doors and listening to the people. So, we're going to probably have to take a more direct role in some of these things."
The next speaker of the Minnesota House, Margaret Anderson Kelliher of Minneapolis, says she also wants to hold down college costs. She says higher education must remain accessible and affordable to all Minnesotans.
DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller said a tuition freeze sounds reasonable. But Pogemiller doesn't like Gov. Pawlenty's proposal to offer free tuition to top Minnesota students.
"I just don't think that's fundamentally fair. I think the way you're fair is by having stable and modestly increasing tuition. And to just say we're going to go from double-digit tuition increases to no tuitions, I don't think that's a conservative, fiscally responsible thing to do," Pogemiller said.
Republican David Senjem, the next Senate minority leader, says he supports the governor's tuition plan, but he's not sure where the money would come from.
