ByTyler Smith
MSCSA President & Normandale Community College Student

Here is to another great Minnesota Fall, with crisp air, unpredictable snowfall, and 100,000 students working towards bettering themselves and their communities through education.

In October, we had the first ever Minnesota Student Leadership Summit in collaboration with the Minnesota State University Student Association (MSUSA), including many excellent workshops and keynotes, as well as a visit from Minneota’s junior U.S. Senator, Al Franken. The Summit went very well, and was a great way to kick off the year with an abundance of information for both those new to student government and leadership as well as those veterans still fighting for higher education.

On a state level, we are continuing our efforts to ensure transferability of credits. The MnSCU Board of Trustees has made it clear that they want transfer to be a priority in the system. We are working with the Office of the Chancellor to coordinate a survey of key advisors and counselors who have their finger on the pulse of transfer right on campuses, and we are teaming up once again with MSUSA to determine the problems and solutions in the transfer system, especially between MnSCU institutions.

The Students First initiative continues to be pushed forward by the Chancellor, and we are very excited to see the results of this endeavor. Single search, single application, single registration, graduation planner, single bill & pay, and shared services are all a part of this intuitive push. Learn more about Students First online.

As we move forward into this next semester and the next legislative session, we will continue to work towards a more accessible, more affordable, higher quality higher education. And with the voice of over 100,000 students, we will assure that we have one powerful voice fighting for students at the capitol and in St. Paul.