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  The proposed increase in the state’s minimum wage should be considered the first step in Culver’s college funding plan. Raising the rate from $5.15 to $7.25 by Jan. 1, 2008, should ease the burden of higher education costs, boosting the income of low-income families who struggle to afford college and increasing student earnings in the types of jobs that help pay tuition.

  However, as the Legislature turns its attention to higher-education funding, it must not allow any increase in the minimum wage to be offset by an increase in tuition. Students at the three regents’ universities have seen their tuition go up by an average of 63 percent since 2001; include student fees, and the increase is even higher.

  During his campaign, Culver said he intended to increase funding for regent universities and community colleges to ease the need for tuition increases, raise base faculty salaries and fund skills-training efforts. Simultaneously, he wants to create a new scholarship program, Iowa Opportunity Scholarship, to provide high school students from low- and middle-income families with grants of up to $5,000 to attend one year at a regent university or up to two years at a community college. He also wants to direct about $3 million to allow all high school students to earn up to a year’s worth of college credit. Currently, about 20 percent of Iowa high school students have that opportunity.

  With a new Democratic Legislature and new ideas in the governor’s office, the possibilities are exciting. Even better, it appears Culver can count on bipartisan support to achieve some of his education goals. Legislators have said they support restoring higher-education funding levels to where they were in 2001, $55 million more than what was appropriated for the current fiscal year.

  Restoring that funding will take some time, along with cooperation among the governor, the Legislature and higher education officials. At the very least, the regents must place a moratorium on tuition increases and the Legislature must follow through on promised allocations, both actions that officials are already talking about.

  Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, is right to call for the Legislature to seek sustainable sources of funding for higher education. With a predicted increase in state revenues, some of that money will be easy to find. But the Legislature must be careful about dipping into the state’s budget surplus, as Culver has proposed. Instead, it should take to heart his call for a government-wide performance review, a move Culver said could cut as much as $250 million from departmental budgets.

  And Culver should pursue an idea that Lt. Gov. Patty Judge suggested during her bid to be the Democratic candidate for governor — forgiving a portion of college loans for students who would stay in Iowa for five years after graduation. At the same time, colleges and universities can demonstrate their commitment by continuing to look for efficiencies in operations, something they did well during recent lean years.