College costs a key issue for Minnesota middle class voters

Shelly Smith knows the importance of a college education for daughter, Selena. She also knows the steep price to get it.

The Smiths are squarely in the middle class and it's been difficult socking money away for college, which is getting closer as Selena prepares for her spring high school graduation.

"You know it's hard. It's hard these days for parents to put money away. We struggle with that," Smith said as she and her daughter visited a college fair recently. "A lot of families can't do so, so you hope for the best and try to minimize the loans taken out. You pinch your pennies and put the money away when you can."

Minnesota tuition data show why Smith, and parents like her, have a right to be worried.

For undergraduates at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the resident sticker price for tuition and fees runs about $14,000 a year, triple what it was in 2000. At the current rate, it will cost this fall's freshman class at least $56,000 if students can finish in four years.

Private schools can cost considerably more. Posted tuition costs at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., and Macalester College in St. Paul are nearly four times higher than the U, according to cost estimates published by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. Books, lodging and other expenses only add to the bill.

For many, scholarships and grants will defray expenses. Others, though, will turn to loans and amass big debts by the time they earn a degree.

The scenario is playing out around the country. It's why candidates seeking the White House and other offices are talking about rising college costs and student debt, although many voters remain skeptical that any of the grand plans are achievable.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has made free college for some students and lower debt payments for others key planks in her economic platform.

"I don't know how we got to where we are. But we are going to fix it. It's wrong for students, it's wrong for our families and it's wrong for our country," Clinton told a New Hampshire rally last month.

She touted her proposal as one that "will help millions of people save thousands of dollars."

Republican Donald Trump has questioned whether such an approach is fiscally sustainable. He doesn't have a bullet-point plan like Clinton, but he used a recent campaign speech to criticize universities for sitting on multi-billion dollar endowments while students rack up debt. He said he'd explore revoking federal tax exemptions for universities that don't change course.

"Too many of the universities don't use the money to help with the tuition and student debt. Instead the universities use this money to pay their administrators or put donors' names or just store the money, keep it and invest it," Trump said at a Pennsylvania campaign appearance in late September.

College administrators argue that contributors to endowments often have a specific purpose in mind, and that the funds themselves are meant to protect long-term fiscal health of schools rather than address short-term problems.

The Smiths are being selective in Selena's college search. They live in Oakdale and Selena will graduate from a public high school. She's looking mainly at private colleges because she is attracted by the smaller setting. And she's bracing for the financial burden the family has already agreed she'll share.

"I chose to go to a private school, or I'm choosing to go to a private school, so I know it's a lot more expensive than a public school," she said.

Shelly Smith just shrugs off the campaign promises that big change is on the way.

"It's hard to see it happening. I mean, so many politicians have talked about helping our students have a better, affordable education. I haven't seen it yet," Smith said. "I hope for the best, but no I'm not banking on it."

That skepticism is shared by Liz Groth, a legal specialist who'd come to the college fair with daughter, Olivia.

"Somebody has to fund it. Where is it going to be funded from? I feel like it's going to be coming from me," Groth said. "And I already have a college career to fund, so I'm not interested in funding other people's right now."

Nor is Groth planning to vote. She said she's turned off by the ugly campaign.

Olivia will graduate from a Minneapolis high school next spring. She's looking at colleges in the Midwest and expects to be on a veterinarian track. She knows that means a lot of years in school, and a lot of bills.

"I don't want to put the whole burden on her, so I'll be working when I can at least," Olivia Groth said.

When Clinton talks about her college compact, she stresses that it will take buy-in and dollars from state governments, too.

"This is a partnership," Clinton said. "States that are willing to work with us to increase their contributions will be rewarded by this program. And states that are not, we think, will be under political pressure to do that."

In Minnesota, that's been easier said than done.

The state's had a goal since the early 1980s that two-thirds of college instructional costs would be covered by taxpayers so the bulk wouldn't come from student tuition. But that benchmark is increasingly detached from reality.

In 2015, the state appropriation reached only 39 percent of University of Minnesota instructional costs and 43 percent for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

Under Clinton's plan, children from families earning $85,000 or less per year would be able to attend an in-state public university at no tuition. That eligibility ceiling would rise to $125,000 in family earnings by 2021. And community colleges? They'd be free.

Richard Pfutzenreuter, the recently retired chief financial officer at the University of Minnesota, said that while he appreciates the campaign emphasis on higher education, the plans on the table are full of side effects. He fears it could come at the expense of other college funding for research and other needs. He wonders if there would even be enough space at universities.

"If I was a parent and had a kid that was going to go to college I'd be steering that student, I'd be mandating they apply to one of the publics," Pfutzenreuter said. "What is that going to do to the privates?"

Russ DeFauw has been thinking about calls for free college, too. He runs a paper factory in Lakeville and recently hosted some Democratic candidates who were soliciting advice.

"Clearly the talk about free college tuition is just election-year talk," he said. "We all know that it's not only a fantasy but it would be, in my opinion, be a gross misallocation of resources."

DeFauw had an alternative in mind that includes an incentive for students to take their studies seriously.

"I call it trade, technical, community college buy one, get one free," he said. "If somebody goes to community college the first year and gets passing grades, we, the federal government, will reimburse them for the second year."