Session Year 2011, Special Session 1

Bill Name: SF0005

Relating to higher education

ARTICLE 1- HIGHER EDUCTION
APPROPRIATIONS

Providing a summary of appropriations; appropriating money to
the office of higher education (OHE) for state grants, safety officers
survivors, child care grants, state work-study, Indian scholarships,
intervention for college attendance program grants, the Midwest higher education
compact, united family medicine residency program, interstate tuition
reciprocity, the Minnesota college savings plan, MnLINK gateway and Minitex,
student and parent information, Get Ready, Minnesota minority partnership and
agency administration; appropriating money to the Minnesota state colleges and
universities (MnSCU) board of trustees for the central office and the shared
services unit, operations and maintenance and the learning network of Minnesota,
specifying education priorities; appropriating money to the University of
Minnesota board of regents for operations and maintenance, specifying education
priorities, for primary care education initiatives, for special appropriations
including the agriculture and extension service, health sciences, institute of
technology, system special, University of Minnesota and Mayo foundation
partnership and the academic health center; appropriating money to the Mayo
medical foundation for the medical school and the family practice and graduate
residency program; limiting the maximum MnSCU tuition; specifying a retroactive
effective date to replace prior second judicial district funding

ARTICLE 2 -
RELATED HIGHER EDUCATION PROVISIONS

Changing eligibility for the senior
citizen public higher education program by
lowering the qualifying age; setting
a statutory amount for the tuition and fee maximum used to calculate a state
grant award if a maximum is not set in law; making technical and clarifying
changes in the process to ensure payment of bonds for student loans; encouraging
the Minnesota state colleges and universities (MnSCU) board of trustees to offer
an optional tuition plan for Minnesota resident students pursuing two-year and
four-year degrees meeting the goal of holding tuition constant at the rate
charged in the first semester; eliminating the statutory requirements that
provide a state-funded matching grant for low and middle-income families who
participate in the Minnesota college savings plan; encouraging the University of
Minnesota board of regents to offer an optional tuition plan for Minnesota
resident students pursuing undergraduate degrees meeting the goal of holding
tuition constant at the rate charged in the first semester; requiring the office
of higher education (OHE) to study the for-profit graduate education sector;
requiring the MnSCU board of trustees to report progress on credit transfers,
information on transfers, and a study of effective transfer mechanisms in a
report to the legislature; repealing provisions relating to the requirement for
public institutions to sell American-made clothing and apparel in their
bookstores, the prohibition that public employers purchase or require employees
to purchase uniform or protective accessories that are not made in America, the
matching grant program that is part of the Minnesota college savings plan and
the requirement to provide one-time Achieve grants to students who were eligible
before January 1, 2009, and have not yet been awarded the grant
(rt)