Minnesota Collegiate System Focuses on Low-Income Students

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is putting an emphasis on addressing basic human needs in hopes of improving results for its growing proportion of low-income students.

The assistance provided by the state's largest higher education system reportedly includes everything from work-study jobs and housing referrals to cash for child care and on-campus food banks. Many of the system's 31 schools also have retrained some staff and faculty on how to interact with students facing poverty.

More than one-third of the system's students are eligible for income-based federal Pell Grants, compared to less than one-fourth of its students a decade ago.

Around 390,000 students are enrolled in Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.