‘Let down by legislators’: Thousands of Minnesota college students face reduced financial aid due to legislative inaction

MINNEAPOLIS – Every year for over four decades, tens of thousands of Minnesota students have relied on a popular grant program to reduce their college bill. One of those students is Aaron Eischen, 19, who is juggling classes this summer with a job at Sam’s Club.

Though it’s just one of several pots of state money students can access to pay for college, the State Grant Program is the largest, accounting for $222 million in aid to over 75,000 students in fiscal year 2025. 

Eischen got about $2,900 this past school year to go toward his graphic design studies at Dakota County Technical College, mixing it with other forms of aid to help soften the blow of the education he hopes will lead to long-term financial stability.

“Stripping away that (aid) would be devastating to a lot of students,” he said.

And yet Minnesota is again stripping away how much aid students receive from the grant program, this time because of a projected $131 million ...