By Christopher Magan

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Leaders of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system say the 2015 Legislature left a $21 million hole in their budget that they hope lawmakers will fix this year.

Without additional financial support from the Legislature, the 54 MnSCU campuses, which includes Riverland Community College, will face budget cuts, system leaders told the House Higher Education Policy and Finance Committee on Wednesday.

MnSCU Chancellor Steven Rosenstone said budget reductions would hurt one of the state’s essential academic providers and economic engines. He said cuts would directly affect the number and availability of courses students need to graduate and enter the workforce.

“In short, our graduates ensure the economic prosperity of communities in every corner of our state,” Rosenstone said in making his request for the additional $21 million.

Minnesota’s two-year biennial budget allocates $3 billion toward higher education.

Besides granting MnSCU less than what the system said it needed to balance its budget, lawmakers last year also restricted its ability to raise tuition.

Rosenstone said MnSCU leaders support lawmakers’ philosophy of keeping college affordable, but he said the state must help the system make up the funding difference.

“We accept the deal, but everyone has to do their part,” he said in an interview before Wednesday’s House committee hearing.

MnSCU’s enrollment also is down, but that is not why the system is requesting more funding, Rosenstone said. “We are managing those drops ourselves,” he said.

The MnSCU funding request was included in Gov. Mark Dayton’s supplemental budget. Dayton acknowledged the challenges facing the state college system at a news conference Wednesday morning.

“They have some challenges, early in terms of their enrollment with the tighter labor market, more people now seeking jobs rather than school and the management of those is a challenge, but I believe that this satisfies most of what they need,” Dayton said.

University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler was also before the committee detailing his system’s $39 million supplemental budget request, which is also backed by the governor.

It includes new spending on cybersecurity, health care training and mining initiatives.

Rosenstone and Kaler also hope state lawmakers will back nearly $500 million in combined bonding projects. Each system has about $100 million in facility maintenance requests as well as a number of other projects statewide.