SF4866

Purpose

• The bill aims to adjust how costs for higher education are calculated for financial aid, modify how families contribute to a student’s cost of attendance, and change certain tuition/fee maximum provisions. It also establishes rules for state grants and funding related to these changes.

Main Provisions

• Assigned family responsibility

  • Introduces and defines Assigned family responsibility as the share of a student’s cost of attendance attributed to family contributions, determined using a federal need analysis.
  • For dependent students, Assigned family responsibility equals:
  • 95% of the parental contribution, or
  • If the parental contribution is between 0 and -1500, 50% of that contribution, or
  • If the parental contribution is less than -1500, the recognized contribution is -1500.
  • For independent students with dependents other than a spouse, Assigned family responsibility equals 71% of the student contribution.
  • For independent students without dependents other than a spouse, Assigned family responsibility equals 35% of the student contribution.
  • If the student contribution is between 0 and -1500, Assigned family responsibility is 50% of the student contribution; if the student contribution is less than -1500, the recognized student contribution is -1500.
  • If a student is enrolled part-time, the Assigned family responsibility is prorated based on the ratio of enrolled credits to full-time credits.

• Cost of attendance

  • The recognized cost of attendance includes:
  • An allowance for living and miscellaneous expenses, and
  • An allowance for tuition and fees, equal to the lesser of the institution’s average tuition and fees or a tuition and fee maximum if one is set by law.
  • If no living and miscellaneous allowance is set by law, it defaults to 106% of the federal poverty guidelines for a one-person Minnesota household for nine months.
  • If no tuition/fee maximum is set by law, the tuition/fee allowance defaults to:
  • The lesser of the institution’s average tuition/fees, or
  • For two-year programs: the highest tuition/fees charged at a public Minnesota state two-year institution; for four-year programs: the highest tuition/fees charged at a public Minnesota state university.
  • Part-time students have their cost of attendance prorated by credit load.
  • For students confined to a Minnesota correctional institution, the cost of attendance includes only the tuition/fee portion (no living or other expenses).
  • Fees counted are mandatory fees charged to full-time resident students; tools, equipment, computers, or similar materials are excluded unless the institution owns them; optional or punitive fees are excluded.

• State Grants and funding

  • If an appropriation for state grants is insufficient in a given year, funds from the other year’s appropriation may be used to cover the shortfall. The appropriation remains available until June 30, 2029.
  • For purposes of calculating maximums, the bill provides a tuition and fee maximum for four-year programs, which is the lesser of:
  • The average tuition/fees charged by the institution, or
  • An amount equal to the highest tuition/fees charged at a public Minnesota university in the 2024-2025 academic year, plus 2% for fiscal year 2026 and plus 2% for fiscal year 2027.
  • The base funding for this provision is set at 238,467,000 in fiscal year 2028 and thereafter.

Significant Changes and Impacts

• Financial aid calculations would shift toward a revised Assigned family responsibility framework, potentially changing how much a family must contribute for different student categories (dependent vs. independent; with or without dependents).
• The cost of attendance framework would be updated to include new maxima (or to apply existing maxima if set by law) and to adjust allowances if not previously specified, including a correctional-education scenario.
• The state’s grant funding and tuition/fee maximum structure would be updated to reflect a multi-year funding plan with specific growth (percent increases) and a defined base amount starting in 2028.
• Overall, the bill seeks to streamline and standardize how student aid is calculated, what counts toward the student’s cost of attendance, and how state grant money and tuition/fee maximums are determined and funded.

Implementation Notes

• Provisions rely on federal need analysis for determiningAssigned family responsibility.
• Several provisions hinge on whether particular living expense allowances and tuition/fee maximums are already set by law; if not, default rules apply.
• Some terms refer to specific public Minnesota institutions and program types (two-year vs four-year), and a correctional-education scenario is explicitly described.

Relevant Terms - Assigned family responsibility - Parental contribution - Parental contribution range (-1500) - Recognized parental contribution - Student contribution - Recognized student contribution - Dependent student - Independent student - With dependents - Without dependents - Less than full-time / prorate - Cost of attendance - Living and miscellaneous expenses - Tuition and fees - Tuition and fee maximum - Average tuition and fees - Two-year programs - Four-year programs - Public Minnesota state two-year institution - Public Minnesota state university - Correctional institution - Mandatory fees - Fees (ownership and scope) - State Grants - Appropriation - Fiscal year (FY2026, FY2027, FY2028) - Availability through June 30, 2029