State Funding Shrinks, College Debt Grows; State Legislature Looking for Answers
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Faculty and students at MSUM shared their frustrations on how state funding for higher education is becoming more and more nonexistent.
One student I spoke to says student debt has become one of the only ways to get through college.
Megan Turk is a senior at MSUM who is looking for answers.
She will be graduating next spring and is one of many students who have had to take out student loans to cover tuition costs.
She says the debt has made her future uncertain.
“They make it almost impossible. I don’t know how after I graduate with all this debt that I’m going to be able to have a house or a family. They just make it very different to succeed with these debts,” says Turk.
Planning to continue her education after graduation, she has come to accept that student loan debt is something she will always have to worry about.
“I’m planning to go to law school next fall so that’s another $100,000 typically for students and it’s just the reality that I’m going to spend majority of my life paying off these student loans,” says Turk.
The average Minnesota college student is currently graduating carrying more than $30,000 in student loan debt with them.
MSUM President Anne Blackhurst says the 5th place ranking is a reflection of the student population.
Most being first generation college students whose parents can’t afford to pick up the full cost of tuition.
She also says the lack of state funding is a major factor.
“State support for higher education has declined in the last decade so students pay more of the share of the cost of their higher education, than they did at one time,” says Blackhurst.
State Representative Ben Lien says one of the state’s top goals is to bring back affordable higher education.
Lien says the state is looking into how it can pick up 60-70 percent of the average student tuition cost.
Currently, tuition at MSUM is costing students anywhere from $3,200-$3,500 a semester.
