Letter: Legislators come through for Minnesota State College Southeast

Now that the Higher Education Funding bill has been signed by Gov. Mark Dayton, we would like to thank our Red Wing state legislators, Rep. Barb Haley and Sen. Mike Goggin, for their hard work during the session. They have helped Minnesota State College Southeast gain essential state funding for the 2018-2019 biennium. We deeply appreciate their support of the college and are grateful that they share our vision of serving individual and regional needs for lifelong learning and career development.

As a member of Minnesota State, we are focused on providing the highest quality, most affordable option for higher education. We know that our students struggle with the cost of college, and keeping tuition low is always a priority.

Some years ago we lowered tuition by 1 percent. This year we will restore the previous cost per credit, a very modest increase of $1.66 per credit. Next year tuition will be frozen. Most importantly, the Higher Education Funding bill provides support to offset the cost of keeping tuition low.

We are very pleased to receive Higher Education Asset Preservation and Renewal funding that will allow the college to make critical maintenance improvements to the Red Wing campus. Plus, supplemental aid was provided for non-metro colleges such as ours, and both the Red Wing and Winona campuses will receive additional funding through this allocation.

All of this was made possible by the hard work of the Minnesota state legislature. Please join us in thanking Haley and Goggin for their service to Minnesota and our community!

Dr. Dorothy Duran, Winona, Minn.
Dr. Dorothy Duran is president Minnesota State College Southeast.