Governor Mark Dayton's budget would inject an additional $80,000,000 to $90,000,000 into the Minnesota Colleges and Universities System. 

It would be the first significant infusion of cash and comes in the wake of a 12% cut to system finances in the most recent biennium.  Minnesota State College Southeast Technical President Jim Johnson calls the proposal a 'sea change."

Johnson says state support for SE Tech has been reduced from two-thirds of its operating budget to one-third...and he says that change has been borne on the backs of students through higher tuition costs. 

He says the governor's proposal in no way returns to the old way of doing business but it helps staunch the bleeding.

Johnson stresses that tuition hikes were not the only response to reduced state support.  He is adamant that budgets were also cut to degrees not acknowledged by many in the legislature or around the state.  He also says college partners in private business are investors, as well.

A real increase in state investment, according to Johnson, can be a game changer as his school and others work to eliminate what's called the skills gap between the needs of local employers and the training of the local workforce.