The University of Minnesota Board of Regents is holding a special meeting Wednesday to vote on a proposed budget that includes the largest tuition hike in over a decade.
If it passes, the 6.5% increase for in-state undergrads would bring a year's tuition to more than $16,000.
A larger, 7.5% increase is proposed for out-of-state students.
The proposal also asks each chancellor and dean to cut their academic programs by 7% across the board.
University President Rebecca Cunningham says the hikes and cuts reflect a very historic time and are necessary to ensure the University's short and long-term financial sustainability.
Not everyone agrees, with one University of Minnesota lecturer saying the budget at the school is "bloated."
Heather Holcombe, a lecturer at Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts, told WCCO's Adam and Jordana that the school's budget should be focused on serving students first.
"Yes, we have an absolute problem with administrative bloat, and this budget seems to be interested in sacrificing undergraduate education and research programming for rather unnamed administrative priorities and high administrative salaries," says Holcombe.
She was also very critical of high-ranking University of Minnesota officials who were making well into six-figures.
"We are public servants who care about the future of our state and our world and the process of inquiry," Holcombe said. "And education and knowledge building. We care about taking care of our community, about doing life saving cancer research, about figuring out how to make our environment better. So I make $45,000 a year, which is a little embarrassing to say out loud. But right at that cost for me, who will teach six classes next year, a single $500,000 vice president could fund 11 instructors to teach 66 courses next year."
Holcombe adds that the cuts proposed by this particular budget strike at the things the University should be protecting.
"The budget that we are talking about right now is asking specifically for deans and department chairs to make 7% cuts across the board, specifically to academic and research programming," she explained. "They've expressly been told not to try to cut administrative funding. So, that stinks from my perspective."