Higher education law shifts grant funding, creates protections for students

The 2024 higher education supplemental policy and finance law affects funding and policies for the Office of Higher Education, Minnesota State, University of Minnesota, and other postsecondary institutions in the state.

Sponsored by Rep. Gene Pelowski, Jr. (DFL-Winona) and Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Mpls), the law’s provisions are effective May 25, 2024, except where indicated.

HF4024*/SF4003/CH124

Appropriations

The law makes one new Office of Higher Education appropriation and alters others in existing law, including:

• extending the availability of competitive grants to fund research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to June 30, 2029, and allowing up to $15 million to external organizations to award and administer the grants;

• clarifying that $500,000 for equipment grants is available until June 30, 2026;

• shifting $5.04 million in fiscal year 2025 from the North Star Promise program to the Fostering Independence Grant program;

• changing the specific purposes for which a 2023 University of Minnesota appropriation to the Medical School on the CentraCare Health System Campus in St. Cloud may be used; and

• appropriating $500,000 in fiscal year 2025 to the Minnesota State system to participate in Head Start’s “Kids on Campus” initiative, with the funds available until June 30, 2026.

Policy

The law creates a new section of statute regarding how postsecondary institutions may consider an applicant’s prior criminal records. It also:

• adds an academic progress requirement for the American Indian Scholars program;

• makes permanent the state’s transcript access law;

• makes various changes to existing statute requiring postsecondary institutions to adopt policies on sexual misconduct (effective Aug. 1, 2025);

• creates a new requirement for postsecondary institutions to designate an employee as a “navigator” to assist parenting students;

• creates new protections for pregnant and parenting students at public postsecondary institutions;

• adds tribal colleges to the list of eligible institutions for inclusive higher education grants;

• creates a new section of law regarding the rights of postsecondary students with disabilities and the obligations of postsecondary institutions towards those students (effective Jan. 1, 2025);

• regulates contracts between Minnesota State and University of Minnesota institutions and online program management companies (effective July 1, 2024);

• allows the Office of Higher Education to consolidate its mandated reporting for multiple financial aid programs it administers and to determine the order that students’ financial aid awards may be calculated if students are eligible for more than one program;

• clarifies eligibility criteria regarding free and reduced-price school meals in summer academic enrichment programs;

• adds requirements to the Fostering Independence Grants program’s eligibility criteria and allows the Office of Higher Education to establish a priority application deadline and create a waitlist for applications received after that deadline;

• provides technical clarifications to the North Star Promise scholarship program and changes to the SELF loan program; and

• increases the total value of outstanding bonds the Higher Education Facilities Authority may issue from $1.3 billion to $2 billion.

The law also makes several changes to the Minnesota Private and Out-of-State Public Postsecondary Education Act and the Private Career School Act; adds “energy” to the list of programs of study or certification eligible for scholarships; and requests the University of Minnesota provide disabled veterans unlimited free access to its Landscape Arboretum.

HF4024* / SF4003 / CH124