Starting in early 1994, I worked for my first-ever newspaper, The Northern Student, the student newspaper at Bemidji State University, where I attended and received my bachelor's degree in mass communication. Over three years, I would be a staff writer, news editor, managing editor and editor. I wrote everything from news stories to feature stories to sports stories to opinion pieces. It was the greatest training ground a journalist could ever have, and I am grateful to the many talented people I worked alongside in my years at The NS.
Sept. 20, 1995
By Devlyn Brooks
Two of the most influential politicians in Minnesota agree that there is a dilemma in balancing all the needs of Minnesotans and the needs of the higher education systems. At least, this is what they said on FM90's "Newstalk" program Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Minnesota House Majority Leader Phil Carruthers (DFL-Brooklyn Center) and Minority Leader Steve Sviggum (IR-Kenyon), as well as the rest of the House of Representatives, are in the Bemidji area conducting the four-day "Headwaters mini-Session." Mini-sessions are held every two years outside the metropolitan area to "get input that we would not normally get in St. Paul and hear what people have to say in northern Minnesota," according to Carruthers. This is the 11th mini-session to be held in "Greater Minnesota."
"A number of pieces of legislation have come out of these mini-sessions," Carruthers said, "and it has been really valuable for us to get out of St. Paul."
Carruthers and Sviggum, along with Bemidji State University Student President Brent Glass, met on the half hour talk show "Newstalk" to discuss issues, such as higher education financing, that affect most BSU students.
Glass told the representatives that he was concerned with the future of higher education because if the trends were to increase, a lot of students soon would not be able to afford an education.
"I believe in the 90s (higher education financing) has gone down from 15.5 percent of the state budget to 12.5 percent," Glass said. "And that's really putting a stress on this campus. Do you still see the financing going down in the state budget?"
Sviggum answered that the last legislative session was difficult because the House wanted to balance the needs of all Minnesotans, while trying to keep the state budget balanced. He said they had to set priorities.
"Obviously, higher education did not receive the increase they would have wanted," Sviggum said, "but they did receive increases."
He said that between the University of Minnesota and the newly merged Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, $100 million more was appropriated to higher education than last biennium.
Carruthers added that this appropriation was $29 million more than the governor's recommendation.
"Students are also concerned about federal cutbacks," Glass said. "How do you think that's going to affect the state financial aid program?"
"There are a number of issues," Carruthers said. "It's not just the reduced dollars, but it's also talking about changing the way that money is allocated to students." He mentioned the new concept of student aid being controlled by banks instead of being directly received by the student. He said that due to the fact that banks have overhead and have to make money, it would be more expensive for students to get aid from such institutions. "It increases the expense and and really makes less money available directly to students."
Sviggum told Glass that he would be interested in hearing from students the consequences that have been suffered from the cutbacks.
"In 1993, we had 2,200 Pell grants, and about 2,500 loans that were subsidized. So these people will be affected on Day One if those cuts do come through," Glass said. "The average debt of people who take out loans on this campus is $10,000 when they graduate, and studies show this is growing."
However, Sviggum told Glass that he did not feel that $10,000 was an "astronomical" amount of debt to graduate with.
"I graduated from college 22 or 23 years ago, and my wife and I ended up paying off our college loans 13 years after we graduated from college. And together they were substantially more than $10,000," Sviggum said. "I believe there's s responsibility in society for me to make myself better, recognizing that not everything is free."
"One of the things I worry about with the loan program changes and the reduction in financial aid is that students are going to take a longer time to graduate," Carruthers said. "That's not good for an institution. It's not good for students. Support for education is a win-win proposition for society."
In the end, all three politicians agreed that students could really help the process by attending the educational mini-session to be held Thursday, Sept. 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. in Beaux Arts Ballroom.
"Getting involved is critical. This is a critical time for higher education, and students need to get involved," Carruthers said. "I think the comparison has been made that we're eating our seed corn because higher education, and education generally, are really what's going to fuel a strong economy in the future."
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