Education is supposed to be an equal opportunity, but this isn’t the case anymore now that the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office recently decided to cut the work-study program.

Some 12,000 students now use the program, which allows students to work on-campus to pay for their tuition. The move is in response to a projected $16 million shortfall in the state grant program, which benefits 69,000 students.

This cost-cutting measure is devastating to students who dream of having a college education, but whose families cannot bridge the entire cost. It will hurt the most vulnerable students and prevent some from a post-secondary education.

This is simply wrong.

The only choice left for those students working in the program now is -- if they qualify -- to fall deeper in debt with loans they will continue to pay for decades after graduation.

What’s worse is that it's stopping those students who are willing to work for their education versus simply applying for another loan. The state is punishing these students for showing responsibility and initiative. That's a lesson that doesn't belong in any Minnesota school.

The entire higher education system should be outraged that such a drastic step has to be made, especially when the state somehow found the money to help pay for a new ballpark.

When will this blatant disregard for the state's educational system and its students stop?