We Make MN

“At institutions like Minnesota State University Mankato, years of underfunding have real consequences. Tuition goes up. Student debt goes up. Services are stretched thin. Workers are asked to do much more with less. And the people who pay the price are the same people who make our campuses work.”

We can’t treat higher education as a luxury. It is a foundational need for a thriving society, like healthcare and childcare. Campuses enrich the communities around them, from adult learning classes to events to the students who support local businesses.

“At institutions like Minnesota State University Mankato, years of underfunding have real consequences. Tuition goes up. Student debt goes up. Services are stretched thin. Workers are asked to do much more with less. And the people who pay the price are the same people who make our campuses work.”

Students are feeling it too. Tuition rose 6.37% this fall, the second straight year of a large increase. According to Cindy, students feel that the burden is being put on them, and the data backs this up.

“At institutions like Minnesota State University Mankato, years of underfunding have real consequences. Tuition goes up. Student debt goes up. Services are stretched thin. Workers are asked to do much more with less. And the people who pay the price are the same people who make our campuses work.”

That personal support is getting harder to provide. Even though enrollment is strong, staffing is shrinking. In August, the university announced plans to cut about 60 positions, including 17 layoffs, to address a $22 million budget shortfall over the next two years.

“At institutions like Minnesota State University Mankato, years of underfunding have real consequences. Tuition goes up. Student debt goes up. Services are stretched thin. Workers are asked to do much more with less. And the people who pay the price are the same people who make our campuses work.”

“We’re seeing a shortage of wildland firefighters. It’s important that we continue to fund our line of work. We’re consistently, and with climate change, fighting more fires more aggressively. And we’re seeing fires now year-round, even just in Minnesota.”

Karl, Jim, and firefighters like them have spent their careers protecting Minnesotans and deserve the funding to do this work.

“We’re seeing a shortage of wildland firefighters. It’s important that we continue to fund our line of work. We’re consistently, and with climate change, fighting more fires more aggressively. And we’re seeing fires now year-round, even just in Minnesota.”

Without better pay and benefits, it’s hard to attract new firefighters or retain experienced ones. This experience matters, and as Jim says, “If we don’t have it, we are just putting people in danger.”

“We’re seeing a shortage of wildland firefighters. It’s important that we continue to fund our line of work. We’re consistently, and with climate change, fighting more fires more aggressively. And we’re seeing fires now year-round, even just in Minnesota.”

Annual firefighting costs reached $40.3 million in 2025, nearly double since 2010. That increase reflects more work, not better pay. Officials attribute rising costs to paying existing crews for more hours and deploying them earlier and more broadly, while wages and benefits stayed largely the same.

“We’re seeing a shortage of wildland firefighters. It’s important that we continue to fund our line of work. We’re consistently, and with climate change, fighting more fires more aggressively. And we’re seeing fires now year-round, even just in Minnesota.”

Minnesota’s fire season used to mean spring and fall. Not anymore. A Star Tribune report found the number of summer wildfires has grown 86%, and fall fires 74% since the 1990s, meaning crews now spend more of the year fighting fires than ever before.

“We’re seeing a shortage of wildland firefighters. It’s important that we continue to fund our line of work. We’re consistently, and with climate change, fighting more fires more aggressively. And we’re seeing fires now year-round, even just in Minnesota.”

1/ “We’re watching private equity absolutely demolish industries, mine in particular. And it’s getting harder to be one of the little guys.” Meet Lauren Gaffney, co-owner of Mastel’s Health Foods, a vitamin and supplement store in St. Paul. 🧵

7/ The broken status quo which allows corporations to avoid paying taxes, results in the chronic underfunding of public services like health insurance, leaving small businesses like Lauren to fill in the gaps.

1/ “We’re watching private equity absolutely demolish industries, mine in particular. And it’s getting harder to be one of the little guys.” Meet Lauren Gaffney, co-owner of Mastel’s Health Foods, a vitamin and supplement store in St. Paul. 🧵

5/ In that same period, Amazon’s annual profit grew from $11.6 billion to $77.7 billion. “I don’t want to pay less than 2% in taxes. I want Amazon to pay more than 20.”

1/ “We’re watching private equity absolutely demolish industries, mine in particular. And it’s getting harder to be one of the little guys.” Meet Lauren Gaffney, co-owner of Mastel’s Health Foods, a vitamin and supplement store in St. Paul. 🧵

3/ In 2025, Amazon paid just 1.4% of its U.S. income in federal taxes after receiving $17.5 billion in tax subsidies, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Meanwhile, Lauren paid more than 20% of her store’s income in taxes last year.

1/ “We’re watching private equity absolutely demolish industries, mine in particular. And it’s getting harder to be one of the little guys.” Meet Lauren Gaffney, co-owner of Mastel’s Health Foods, a vitamin and supplement store in St. Paul. 🧵

“A direct contact is what a student needs. Often if they do not get that direct contact, they get frustrated and they might give up. And we don’t want that." Meet Deb Cannon, an administrative support professional at Rochester Community and Technical College.

Public employees like Deb do this work because they feel fulfilled when they help students achieve their goals. Instead of accepting a status quo of crumbling infrastructure and hiring freezes, Minnesotans deserve a state that invests in the people and places that help students succeed.

“A direct contact is what a student needs. Often if they do not get that direct contact, they get frustrated and they might give up. And we don’t want that." Meet Deb Cannon, an administrative support professional at Rochester Community and Technical College.

This lack of funding is affecting students as well as staff. In 2025, over 40% of Minnesota Grant recipients attended community and technical colleges like RCTC, the same financial aid program now facing a $131 million shortfall this year.

“A direct contact is what a student needs. Often if they do not get that direct contact, they get frustrated and they might give up. And we don’t want that." Meet Deb Cannon, an administrative support professional at Rochester Community and Technical College.

That funding wasn’t included in this year’s budget. Minnesota State also didn’t receive any new operating funds this year, forcing colleges across the state into hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies.

“A direct contact is what a student needs. Often if they do not get that direct contact, they get frustrated and they might give up. And we don’t want that." Meet Deb Cannon, an administrative support professional at Rochester Community and Technical College.

She is the first person that students see when they need assistance, and her office “keeps the lights on” at RCTC. But keeping the lights on is getting harder.