~ No change for Minnesota students attending public colleges and universities in Wisconsin ~

Governor Tim Pawlenty and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle today announced that the nearly 40-year-old tuition reciprocity agreement between Minnesota and Wisconsin will continue, pending final approval by higher education officials in both states.

“Reciprocity has been extremely valuable to thousands of Minnesota students and their families, and it benefits the entire region,” said Governor Tim Pawlenty. “We have worked hard to find a solution that keeps the agreement intact and we are pleased to continue this important partnership.”

Under the proposed agreement, there is no change for Minnesota students attending public colleges and universities in Wisconsin. Minnesota residents will continue paying the same price they would pay at a comparable public college in their home state. The same is true for Wisconsin students attending school in Minnesota. But the financing structure of the agreement has been modified to address a growing gap between tuition paid by Minnesota residents and Wisconsin residents attending the University of Minnesota.

Because the resident undergraduate tuition rate at the University of Minnesota is currently higher than tuition at the University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin residents are currently paying $1,500 to $2,200 less to attend University of Minnesota campuses than Minnesota residents. The proposed new pact addresses this tuition disparity by charging all students the higher of the two resident tuition rates. In the case of Wisconsin students attending higher-priced institutions in Minnesota, the state of Wisconsin will provide a “tuition reciprocity supplement” for students to cover the increase in tuition charges.

In Minnesota, the reciprocity agreement must be approved by the governing boards of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Both bodies are expected to approve the agreement at their next regularly scheduled meeting. In Wisconsin, minor statutory changes will be offered for inclusion in the state budget bill and the agreement requires review and approval by the Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature.

The renegotiated agreement will not impact current students or students admitted for fall 2007. Wisconsin residents enrolling at the University of Minnesota in fall 2008 will see an increase in the gross tuition charges on their invoices, but the invoices will reflect a tuition reciprocity supplement from the State of Wisconsin, resulting in net tuition charges equal to what students would pay at a comparable institution in their home state.

The proposed pact does not present new costs for Wisconsin taxpayers. Under the existing agreement, a cost-based interstate payment calculation prevents either state from bearing a disproportionate share of the cost of educating students from the other state. This calculation, which will continue under the proposed agreement, has required Wisconsin to make annual payments to Minnesota’s General Fund for the last several years. The state of Wisconsin will continue to make payments to Minnesota, but a portion of those payments will be redirected to the University of Minnesota and MnSCU schools to fund reciprocity supplements paid on behalf of Wisconsin students attending school in Minnesota.

The reciprocity agreement between the two states has been in effect since 1968 and is reviewed and negotiated annually by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the Wisconsin Higher Education Aids Board.

“In both Wisconsin and Minnesota, we have world class university systems and have worked hard to keep them affordable. This agreement ensures that as our students pursue higher education, they will have many quality schools from which to choose,” said Governor Jim Doyle.