How Will Minnesota's Free College Tuition Program Work? Here's What Families Should Know.

Thousands of Minnesotans could receive free college tuition under a new program launching in the fall of 2024. State lawmakers created the North Star Promise program while negotiating a budget deal last month that boosts funding for higher education efforts across the state. Advocates and legislative leaders called it a historic session, noting that similar efforts had failed in the past. The program will roll out at a time when many of the state's colleges and universities are facing enrollment declines and bracing for the possibility that recruitment could become even more difficult in the coming years, due in part to declines in birthrates.