Terry's work on higher education reform

Click to read Terry's Star-Tribune Commentary on the need for serious leadership offering real higher education reform (November 14, 2011)

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Click to read Terry's on Pell Grant Cuts and Congressman John Kline (October 30, 2011)

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=301832219843345 (bottom of page)

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Here's Terry's September 2011 Commentary: 

Hundreds of thousands of students will begin fall courses at Minnesota’s colleges and universities in the next few weeks.  These students know that pursuing the American Dream in the 21st century increasingly requires a college education.

During a statewide college tour this summer, I heard of students’ dedication and sacrifices as they seek a better life. Their success and ours require educational excellence and much-needed reforms.

Sadly, this legislative session did woefully little—except slice the state’s support to our public colleges and universities to last-century’s dollar levels.  Because these schools teach over 40,000 more students than in the late 1990s, this erosion is alarming.

Historically large cuts in state support for the University of Minnesota and MnSCU---and our pressing need to compete in a global economy--- means Minnesota cannot sit still.

Minnesota’s rapidly changing student population elevates the need to encourage, prepare, enroll, and graduate our first-generation, low- and middle-income, and under-represented students.  Fading state support threatens students’ ability to afford college and undermines Minnesota’s research base.  Regional, national, and global competition for students, researchers, and trained workers means that Minnesota needs real reform now.

For Minnesota and its students to succeed, we must address these challenges by improving educational quality, stabilizing cost and investment, and empowering higher-education leadership.

First, we must ensure that Minnesota’s college students gain the skills and knowledge that justify their investment and ours. We must work with Minnesota’s colleges to ensure that meet their responsibilities to assess and account for their effectiveness in teaching.

Second, we must provide sufficient, stable financial aid and counseling to assist Minnesota students who rigorously prepare for college. This concept, introduced in my ‘Minnesota Hope’ bill, would reduce the demand for remedial classes and make college dreams an affordable reality for Minnesota students. We should develop repayment strategies that sustain Minnesota’s financial aid funds while simultaneously encouraging college graduates to work in Minnesota, especially in high-need and priority jobs. 

Third, we should create a Commissioner of Higher Education with responsibility for bringing stakeholders together to guide higher education policy and planning.  A Commissioner can work with Minnesota’s early childhood and K-12 systems, our colleges and universities, and business, foundation, and community leaders to ensure that students are ready and that colleges are affordable, effective, and accountable.

Presently, Minnesota has no one position ‘where the buck stops’ when it comes to higher education. A Commissioner with this responsibility would also have the independence needed to offer a vision of how Minnesota’s public, private, and non-profit colleges can form an effective and efficient network of higher education institutions.

With strong support for smart reforms, Minnesotans can be assured that hard-working, promising young people can go to college in our state. And when these students graduate, they will help move Minnesota forward.