Just finished interviewing some Minnesota State-Mankato students on the impacts of Gov. Pawlenty’s unallotments to the state college system at the Fillin’ Station. They had some great insights into what these cuts are going to do to their tuition, and the hurdles that working college students face to graduating with good grades as costs keep rising. Some pictures:

Katie, Megan, and Mathias also talked about how the cuts to the staffing levels hurts their experience at the school. These people are the ones that help shepherd the kids through the school, making sure their experience is the most rewarding it can be. They see a school and a college student body that is struggling with these barriers right now, and certainly not thriving in the way that Minnesotans are used to. However, they were also very optimistic that college kids can overcome these hurdles (in the fine spirit of Minnesota), but if the costs and other hurdles keep rising, it will just become harder and harder for regular people to have access to the education Minnesotans have prided themselves on providing.

We’ll have the full video and interview notes up after we get to Rochester. Many thanks to Katie, Megan, and Mathias for talking with us.