On Tuesday, a front-page story in the Star Tribune proclaimed "12.5% tuition hike seen for U undergrads." This story was followed by the headline "Tuition set to rise 12.5% for current undergrads" in the Wednesday edition of the Minnesota Daily.

Misleading but provocative headlines aren't the only things these stories have in common — both also go on to explain that the actual proposed undergraduate tuition increase is just 5 percent, but that federal stimulus dollars used for temporary scholarships to offset tuition increases over the past two years are now exhausted. This means that some students will have a greater out-of-pocket tuition responsibility in the coming year.
 
It is important to understand three key points when considering the impact of the expired stimulus funding for temporary scholarships on the University of Minnesota's current students:

 First, the University of Minnesota was required, by federal and state statute, to use the majority of the temporary federal stimulus dollars we received specifically to reduce the impact of tuition rate increases on our students. This was welcome relief for students during a two-year period in which the university experienced a biennial impact of $190 million in state budget reductions and needed to rely more heavily on its most predictable and reliable source of revenue: tuition.

•  Second, it is not at all uncommon for financial aid packages to change from year to year, and in no other case would the media characterize the loss of a grant or scholarship as a "tuition increase." The availability of specific scholarships and grants may fluctuate over time, but in 2009-10, more than 20,000 University of Minnesota undergraduates and another 8,000-plus graduate and professional students received grant and scholarship aid from the university, totaling $126 million. Those levels are expected to increase in the future.

•  Third, many Minnesota students will be unaffected by the loss of this stimulus grant. Despite changes to state and federal financial aid programs and deep proposed state budget cuts, the university is maintaining it strong commitment to guaranteed need-based financial aid for Minnesota students through the University of Minnesota Promise (U Promise) scholarship program, which will be funded at $30 million for 2011-12. As a result, students with the greatest need will be largely unaffected. 

MinnPost/Jay Weiner

Mark Twain once said, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Sure enough, the university was contacted by a number of news organizations in response to the Star Tribune headline on Tuesday. Everyone wanted to know about this supposed double-digit increase when all of my previous statements for the past year or more have predicted a single-digit increase.
 
Unfortunately, big numbers — especially negative ones — have a tendency to stick in the mind of the public. So let's set the record straight: The budget I will present today to the Board of Regents includes a proposed 5 percent tuition increase for undergraduates and strong scholarship support for students with financial need.

In fact, when tuition and fees are considered with room and board, the cost of attendance for students on the Twin Cities campus will increase by only about 4 percent. In the face of deep state budget cuts, this is good news indeed.

Robert H. Bruininks is the president of the University of Minnesota.