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College students in Minnesota received smaller state financial aid packages than usual thanks to a $40 million budget shortfall for the state grant program, according to reporting from the Star-Tribune.
The state grants range from $100 to $15,000 and typically go to around 70,000 Minnesota residents attending both public and private colleges in the state each year. This year, students will receive anywhere from $175 to $750 less than usual, depending on their family income.
The shortfall comes a year after a record-setting budget surplus, which led to the creation of a new public scholarship program, North Star Promise, which only students at in-state public institutions are eligible for; North Star was not affected by the deficit.
It also throws a last-minute wrench in the works of an already-chaotic financial aid cycle, upended by the delayed and error-riddled rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
