ABSTRACT

Minnesota adopted the high-tuition and high-grant market model for the fi nancing of public and private higher education in the early 1980s after a crisis in state funding. While it has often been characterized as a model for other states to follow, there is wide recognition that is diffi cult for states to maintain the strategy (Hossler, Lund, RaminGyurnek, Westfall, & Irish, 1997). In Minnesota’s case, the model has been followed relatively consistently through both conservative and liberal gubernatorial administrations, although there are now serious limitations to it given the rising tuition costs. This case study reviews the development and current operation of the Minnesota model.1