MARSHALL — Minnesota West Community and Technical College President Terry Gaalswyk and Southwest Minnesota State University President Kumara Jayasuriya welcomed Minnesota State Chancellor Scott Olson to Marshall Monday afternoon, and sat down with the Independent to discuss the 2025 Capital and Fiscal Year 2026-27 Budget Requests proposal.

Minnesota State is the fourth largest system of colleges and universities in the country, and supports 26 colleges, seven universities, 54 campuses and serves 270,000 students annually across Minnesota.

Olson and state leaders visited several Minnesota colleges and universities in September to hold listening sessions to hear from students, faculty and local community members about what educational support is needed for the new budget requests.

After gathering a big picture of what Minnesota education institutions are currently in need of, the system built a proposal of the 2025 Capital Budget and Fiscal Year 2026-27 State Biennial Budget Request that was presented to the Board of Trustees and submitted to the Minnesota Management and Budget department mid-November.

“Most of that (proposal) is about the bonding request,” Olson said. “It falls into the usual categories of just supporting our campuses, trying to keep student services what they should be.”

Minnesota State is requesting $552.3 million in total capital from the Legislature. Of that, $200 million will be used systemwide among all Minnesota State institutions for asset preservation projects under the Higher Education Asset Prevention and Replacement (HEAPR). The other $352.3 million would be spent between 14 colleges and universities for major capital projects.

Both SMSU and MNWest made the list of 14 institutions that would be awarded funds from the request.

A little over $14.7 million would be given to SMSU to help start a range of building renovations and new construction.

“We don’t have an entrance to our campus. There are exterior doors, but no entrance,” Jayasuriya said. “We are building one by the Regional Event Center. That’s our bonding request.”

MNWest will look at building updates throughout its five campuses, and would be given just over $10 million.

“We too have a capital bonding need. The request is really focused on a significant remodel for the Granite Falls student services area, as well as remodeling on our Minnesota West campus in Worthington,” Gaalswyk said. “Over there, we’re looking at adding (class space) for nursing, and then building out additional spaces for our public Peace Officer program.”

In the Fiscal Year 2026-27 Budget Request, Minnesota State is requesting $465 million in new funding over the biennium between student support, workforce-focused support, system operations and critical infrastructure.

In last year’s 2024-25 biennial budget request, $293 million was awarded out of the $350 million requested.

This funding would be shared among the 26 colleges and seven universities. The ‘Critical Infrastructure’ funding would also offer some support in addressing infrastructure needs.

“Minnesota didn’t have any bonding bill in the last session, and we already, at that point, had a backlog of projects: Roofs that needed patching so they don’t leak, steam tunnels that were collapsing, HVAC systems that weren’t functioning anymore,” Olson said. “Every biennium we don’t attend to those things, the list just gets longer.”

One hundred million dollars of the budget would apply to the critical infrastructure. Both presidents shared what these finances would help with.

“As we speak, we’re actually trying to fire up a brand new boiler system for our Jackson campus, and that is half of the project. The other half of the project is the air handling units to cool the campus,” Gaalswyk said. “Our next strategy will be over in Pipestone, taking care of some boiler needs and air handling unit needs over there as well.”

SMSU has not received any sort of state infrastructure financial assistance since 2008.

“We have good buildings, but there are some very old buildings … We had four leaks this summer. Each one cost over $100,000. We have insurance, but our deductible is $50,000, so it costs a lot of money,” Jayasuriya said. “We have two residence halls that are beyond repair, because all the piping and everything is rusted.”

Olson and Jayasuriya both mentioned this would help cover costs in demolition, which cannot be requested with a regular bonding bill.

“You can’t borrow money for demolition unless the demolition is tied to a new construction. Sometimes we just have things we need to tear down … The critical infrastructure, in part, would help us with some of those projects,” Olson said. “The cost of fixing them as they are would be greater than actually tearing it down and starting from scratch, because of modern building techniques.”

Jayasuriya also mentioned the old Social Sciences building, which the school has not been using, and repurposed it back to the district.

“We leased that to the SWWC (Southwest West Central Service Cooperative) and the school district, and they have remodeled it, and they’re using it,” Jayasuriya said. “We get lease money, and we promise the campus that we are going to invest it in the classrooms.”

MNWest is looking to maintain and make sure their current buildings stay updated.

“We’re not interested in adding a lot of square footage. We’re interested in taking care of the physical plants that we have, and making sure they are relevant to the needs of our students today and the programs that we’re using,” Gaalswyk said.

The legislative session begins today and ends May 19. The Board of Trustees will hear the first reading of the fiscal year 2026 budgets on May 20, and approvals will be made July 17 and 18.

“We expect our local senators, (Bill) Weber and (Gary) Dahms, as well as our representatives (Chris) Swedzinksi, (Marj) Fogelman and (Joe) Schomacker to co-sponsor legislation to get these projects introduced this biennium,” Gaalswyk said. “We recently met with them, and they’ve shared interest and their support to advance these projects on our behalf.”