Does House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, believe Minnesotans are gullible enough to accept his attempt to re-write history? Minnesotans are far too intelligent to believe the DFL is responsible for the outrageous college tuition increases over the past eight years when Republicans controlled the House of Representatives. Not only does Seifert blame the DFL for jeopardizing the American Dream for our youth, he now claims the Republicans are leading the charge to solve the problem they created.
During his first term in office, Gov. Pawlenty, with the support of House Republicans, balanced the state's budgets on the backs of college students and their families, causing tuition at our public colleges and universities to rise by nearly 70 percent. Thousands of Minnesota students are now mortgaging their future to pay their college tuition. While ignoring the plight of our college students and their families, Gov. Pawlenty and House Republicans continued to give tax breaks to their wealthy friends and financial backers.
Last November, Minnesotans soundly rejected those draconian Republican policies. Having lost the support of a majority of Minnesotans, Seifert is now attempting to blame DFLers for the failed Republican policies. Seifert says "we strongly believe that the best form of financial aid is affordable tuition." If he really believed that, students wouldn't be in the perilous financial position that most are in today.
As Chair of the House Higher Education Finance Division, I invited college students from around the state to the Capitol to share their experiences. What we heard was appalling. A 24-year-old mother of two, her voice quivering, wasn't sure how she was going to deal with her $32,000 college debt, tuition and fees, $2,000 per semester child care, and $400 for books, along with all of her other family expenses, especially since her husband was being deployed to Iraq the following Sunday. Several students told the Division that they would graduate with $50,000 or more in debt. Is it fair to expect our students to begin life on their own with this much debt? Are we going to be the first American generation to deny our children a better life than what we were given by our parents?
Seifert attempts to credit the House Republicans for proposing a solution to the problems they created. Their solution: write a bill freezing tuition at all public colleges and universities, with no mention as to how they will pay for it. While they're at it, why don't they write a bill to end world hunger and stop all wars throughout the world. I only wish it were that easy!
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The DFLers in the House and Senate will pass legislation this session that will help our college students and put an end to the irresponsible tuition increases that have threatened the financial stability of the next generation. We will not only do our best to freeze tuition, we will make sure our public colleges and universities have the resources they need to provide a first-rate college education. Minnesota can regain its reputation of providing an affordable, accessible, high quality education for all students. We have a moral obligation to do so.
