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LeadMN urges continued investment in MinnState, emergency grants and hunger supports
Summary
LeadMN representatives told the committee that MinnState’s low tuition makes two‑year colleges accessible but that emergency grants and Hunger Free Campus funding must expand to meet student need; LeadMN also said state appropriations are essential to keep tuition low and maintain workforce programs.
Christian Catano, vice president of LeadMN, and Grace Horn, LeadMN treasurer and a student at Minnesota State College Southeast, spoke about needs in Minnesota’s two‑year college system and requested support for MinnState’s budget request and emergency assistance programs.
Catano said LeadMN represents students across the MinnState system’s 26 public two‑year community and technical colleges and that MinnState serves over 105,000 students at 47 campuses. He described LeadMN’s scholarship program that awards “over $200,000 in scholarship every single year” to reduce financial barriers.
Horn said MinnState has the most affordable tuition option in the state but that affordability challenges remain because students must cover costs beyond tuition. “Nearly every single application that we receive is requesting emergency funding for food,” she testified, adding that more than 30% of LeadMN students reported experiencing food insecurity in the prior month. She urged the committee to fully fund hunger and emergency assistance programs and to remove barriers that prevent campuses from accessing Hunger Free Campus grant funds; Horn noted that fewer than half of the hunger grant funds were accessed in the last biennium and that only 11 MinnState schools received the Hunger Free Campus designation.
Both witnesses said state appropriations are vital to keeping tuition low, maintaining academic programs — including high‑cost workforce programs — and supporting student basic needs. They told the committee LeadMN will bring 120 students to the capitol for an advocacy day in February.
No formal committee action was recorded during the testimony.
