The Star Tribune covered LeadMN's effort to improve the way that colleges are supporting students with the new federal stimulus money. The article highlighted our effort to improve the emergency grant process to focus on students with the greatest need and make sure that institutional aid was used to support students by forgiving balances and providing technology to students.
LeadMN, the statewide community college student association, wrote a letter to Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra this month outlining students' wishes. The group wants system colleges to forgive overdue balances for students who dropped out of school during the pandemic so they can easily re-enroll in the future.
Students are also calling on Minnesota State to buy more laptops and Wi-Fi hot spots for those learning online, invest in mental health services and refund students for a 3% tuition hike that took effect this spring semester.
"In light of all that money coming in, should they really be raising tuition this semester?" said LeadMN Executive Director Mike Dean, noting that many students are facing "dire circumstances."