The University of Minnesota’s undergraduate government affirmed its opposition to a proposed out-of-state tuition increase at a short-notice meeting Tuesday evening.

 

Minnesota Student Association members said they opposed how steep the tuition increase would be and said they’re wary about not knowing where the extra money would go.

 

President Eric Kaler’s proposal would increase out-of-state tuition 5.5 percent each year for current students, and 15 percent for future incoming students until the 2019-20 school year.

 

MSA president Joelle Stangler said the meeting was called to discuss the proposal.

 

Among Big Ten schools, the University has the lowest nonresident, nonreciprocal tuition, according to a University of Wisconsin report.

 

“All of our peers have high nonresidential tuition, all of our peers have discounts,” Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Robert McMaster said at the meeting.

Moving toward the middle of the Big Ten is reasonable if students get scholarships, McMaster said.

 

Rep. Bob Barrett, R-Lindstrom, who has called for similar tuition hikes in the past, said out-of-state students are undercharged and in-state students are overcharged.

 

Some students at the meeting gave personal accounts of how the tuition hike could affect them and how the low out-of-state cost drew them to the school.

 

Hannah Schacherl contributed to this report.