Minnesota

Date Introduced: 3/4/24
Status: Passed 5/24/24

The Grants for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID Grant) program provides financial assistance to eligible Minnesota resident students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who attend eligible Minnesota postsecondary institutions. The grant program was established in fiscal year 2018.

The Minnesota P-20 Education Partnership Credentials of Value (CoV) work group has "sought to develop consensus for a quality criteria framework to identify credentials of value across both degree and non-degree credentials, discuss the policy and program areas where the framework could be applied, and understand the data needs to operationalize the criteria." The work of Minnesota Inclusive Higher Education Consortium (MIHEC) strives to incorporate the quality criteria framework for the inclusive higher education certificates offered and earned across Minnesota. 

Approved by the Governor on 5/24/23, this bill allows for the creation of the Inclusive Higher Education Technical Assistance Center, as well as grant establishments.

The Minnesota Inclusive Higher Education Consortium joined Think College in efforts to designate May 1, 2023, as Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day. With this proclamation, May 1, 2023 was designated as Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day in the state of Minnesota.

In 2022, a similar proclamation was made to declare May 15, 2022 Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day in Minnesota.

This bill, which expired in committee in 2020, proposed the expansion of grants for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) enrolled in approved comprehensive transition programs (CTPs) to include postsecondary institutions in states that share a geographic border with Minnesota. This means that Minnesota’s public financial assistance grants for students with IDD could be used at institutions in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Students must have an IDD and be enrolled in a comprehensive transition and postsecondary program.

Grants for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID Grant) provide financial assistance to eligible Minnesota resident students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who attend eligible Minnesota postsecondary institutions. The grant program was established in fiscal year 2018 and has received $800,000 total in state appropriations with no allocation for administrative costs.

Enacted in May 2019, this legislation requires the Minnesota Office of Higher Education to make available to all residents information about preparing for postsecondary education. Starting in seventh grade, students and their families must receive annual notification about postsecondary and transition planning opportunities by September 30. Information must also be supplied to out-of-school youth and their families.

Grants for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID Grant) was established by the 2017 Minnesota Legislature (Minnesota Statutes 136A.1215. ID Grant provides financial assistance for postsecondary students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to pay for tuition and fees of Comprehensive Transition & Postsecondary (CTP) programs at eligible Minnesota postsecondary institutions.

This paper from the University of Minnesota makes the following points: