Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to ask Legislature for more money

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system plans to ask legislators for more money over the next two years.

In return, MnSCU (MINN'-skew) leaders are pledging to bump up enrollment, cut administration by $44 million and cap tuition increases at 3 percent.

The public system's Board of Trustees unanimously approved the $1.2 billion budget request Wednesday. The Star Tribune (http://bit.ly/ZvCjzn) reports that's an increase of $97 million over two years, or nearly 9 percent.

Officials say the request makes unprecedented promises to match state funding using private sources. For example, MnSCU pledges to match $21 million in state funding for equipment and technology with equal funding from businesses.

The MnSCU system includes 24 two-year colleges and seven state universities and enrolls more than 420,000 students.

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