Star Tribune
Minnesota private colleges seek money to compete with free state schools
Jenna Bunker chose Gustavus Adolphus College because “something clicked” and she received a grant to help cut down the private school costs. But she’s keenly aware that the state is about to roll out a new free tuition program that might incentivize others to choose public schools instead.
So Bunker and dozens of other private college students have been popping by Minnesota lawmakers’ offices this session, urging them to provide more scholarship money for people like them, arguing that a student’s economic status shouldn’t limit their educational choices.
“Higher education is very essential for some jobs and some careers,” Bunker said. It’s about providing “equal opportunities for all students.”
One year ago, Minnesota lawmakers created the North Star Promise program to cover tuition and fees at Minnesota public schools for residents whose families make less than $80,000 per year. The first awards will go out this fall, and higher education leaders say it will be months before they develop a better sense of how the program might change college recruitment.
State officials estimate that 11,000 students will qualify for North Star Promise scholarships, but caution that it’s too early to be certain. The federal government was late releasing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — the form used to calculate which grants and loans students receive — so many schools are just starting to receive the data they need to compile students’ aid offers. That means many families are still waiting on the information they need to understand their college costs and make their decisions for the upcoming school year.
“It’s a little too early to say how it’s going to affect us,” University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer said of North Star Promise scholarships. But he acknowledged that it’s already pushed leaders there to more proactively share information about scholarships and other opportunities for students to cut their college costs.
Gustavus Adolphus College and Concordia College in Moorhead are among the private schools launching new scholarship programs this fall that aim to compete with the new program. North Dakota State University announced it will offer free tuition for one year, and officials overseeing public universities in South Dakota just announced they’re dropping tuition rates for Minnesotans.
‘A different environment’
Lawmakers who supported North Star Promise said they wanted to encourage more students to study and eventually work in Minnesota, reverse years of enrollment declines that strained some schools’ finances, and reduce racial and economic disparities in higher education.
But private college leaders, whose students are not eligible for North Star Promise, say they have a crucial role to play in that effort, adding that about one-third of low- and middle-income students who attend a four-year school choose a private, nonprofit college.
“It’s just a different environment,” Vischer said, noting that some students might be drawn to private schools’ smaller class sizes and specific academic programs.
Private schools usually advertise prices higher than public schools, but leaders say their students often don’t pay the full costs. According to reports from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, students graduating with a bachelor’s degree from a public university report a median debt of about $22,500; for students who went to private, nonprofit colleges, that figure is closer to $26,300.
Private colleges have found some support in the legislature. Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, introduced a bill that would create a “Promise Equalization Scholarship.” The idea, he said, is not to provide free tuition at private schools but to give those students an amount of state aid that is more comparable to what they would have received under North Star Promise if they had chosen a public school instead.
North Star Promise works by filling the gap that remains after students’ other grants and scholarships are counted toward their colleges costs. The Promise Equalization Scholarship would supplement the aid that private college students can receive under the Minnesota State Grant program, which provides funding to low- and middle-income students attending a variety of public and private schools. Cost estimates for a Promise Equalization Scholarship program total around $14 million.
Wolgamott said he attended the College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University because he liked the smaller campus and the chance to play football.
“I was in a position that I could make that choice, and I want to make sure that students across the state can make that choice and that there is not an imbalance or a lack of parity in what the state is investing in for financial aid,” he said.
Sen. Zach Duckworth, R-Lakeville, is one of four authors on a similar bill in the Senate. He acknowledges this is a “strange admissions year” and that some lawmakers want to see more data on the North Star Promise before deciding whether to offer additional scholarships. But he pitches this as a chance to “cast a much wider net” and help more students.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care where somebody decides they want to go to college, whether it’s public or private,” he said, adding that he just wants them to get an education and enter the workforce.
Slim prospects this year
Legislative leaders say it’s unlikely the bills will pass this session. Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said expanding educational access is a top priority for him.
“That said, I do not see a path forward for ‘promise equalization’ this session,” he said in a statement. “I agreed to introduce the bill to continue the discussion, and I look forward to learning more about how North Star Promise is working for students and families, and how we can grow this revolutionary program in the future.”
Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, chair of the House Higher Education Finance and Policy committee, noted the proposal requires millions of dollars in recurring funding and this is not a budget year.
“I’m not going to hear a bill I can’t fund,” he said.
That hasn’t deterred some private college students from sharing their stories with lawmakers.
Ryan Eatchel thought about going to college out of state but chose the University of St. Thomas because it was closer to home and gave her the chance to study both the environment and geographic information systems. Eatchel said cost is a major consideration, and private students want more financial help from the state too.
“I see the North Star Promise as an incredible first step,” Eatchel said. “This is a really good second step.”
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
