On this page
PSEO runs on one section of statute. Minnesota Statutes 124D.09 sets which grades may enroll, what a college may charge, and the May 30 notice date. Minnesota has no administrative rule for PSEO, so the working detail sits in Department of Education guidance and in the procedure Minnesota State applies at its own colleges.
For what the program costs and who is eligible, start at PSEO in Minnesota. This page is the paper trail underneath it.
The statute
Minn. Stat. § 124D.09
Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act . Subdivisions 5, 5a, 7, 13, and 19.
The whole program sits in this one section. Subdivision 5 opens it to 11th and 12th graders who meet the enrolling college’s own entrance requirements, and subdivision 5a opens a single career and technical course to 10th graders who passed the 8th grade reading MCA. Subdivision 7 carries the deadline: the student informs the school by October 30 or May 30 of each year. Subdivision 19 is why the program costs nothing, barring the college from charging a PSEO student for fees, textbooks, or materials on a course taken for secondary credit. Subdivision 13 is how that gets paid, sending money from the state to the college instead of a bill to the family.
Who pays, and under what authority
PSEO program finance
Minnesota Department of Education, PSEO payments .
The payment side of the program, written for the people who process it. Tuition and required items for most PSEO courses are paid by the Department of Education straight to the postsecondary institution, which is the machinery behind the sentence families hear as "PSEO is free." Ten minutes here is worth it if a college has sent a bill, because the page shows which costs are inside the state payment and which were never in it.
The agreement between the school and the college
Minnesota State Procedure 3.5.1
Minnesota State, Postsecondary Enrollment Options Program procedure .
Most PSEO students enroll at a Minnesota State college or university, and this procedure is how that system applies the statute across its campuses: admission, registration, and the handling of PSEO students alongside degree-seeking ones. A private Minnesota college can participate under the same statute while setting its own admission bar, which is why two colleges twenty minutes apart answer the same question differently.
Agency guidance
PSEO Program Guide
Minnesota Department of Education, PSEO Program Guide .
The department reading its own statute, written for districts, colleges, and families at once. The registration notice, the steps between the May 30 date and a fall course, and the separate handling of nonpublic and home school students are all set out here. When a district and a college describe the same rule differently, this document settles which of them is describing the state position.
District and charter school requirements
MDE, PSEO district and charter school requirements .
What the high school owes a PSEO family, as opposed to what the family owes the high school. The obligations set out here include telling students the program exists, handling the registration notice, and granting secondary credit once the course is finished. A parent who has been told the school does not participate in PSEO is looking at the page that says otherwise.
Who administers it
These are the offices that answer a question about Minnesota law rather than about one school or one campus. A district and a college can both be wrong about a state rule, and these pages are where the state's own position is published.
- Minnesota Department of Education · Runs PSEO, publishes the guidance, and pays the colleges.
- MDE, eligible institutions and courses · Which colleges may enroll PSEO students and which courses qualify.
- Minnesota State · The college system most PSEO students enroll in; its procedure governs its campuses.
- MDE, PSEO frequently asked questions · Where the notice of student registration and the year’s dates are described for families.
Frequently asked
Is there a Minnesota administrative rule for PSEO?
None turned up on the Revisor’s site or the department’s. Section 124D.09 carries the program on its own, and the Department of Education program guide is the operating detail underneath it.
Which subdivision holds the May 30 deadline?
Subdivision 7. It requires the student to inform the school by October 30 or May 30 of each year, which is the sentence behind every reminder a district sends in the spring.
What makes PSEO free in the statute itself?
Subdivision 19 bars the postsecondary institution from charging the student for fees, textbooks, or materials on a course taken for secondary credit. Subdivision 13 then routes the payment from the state to the college.
Does the statute cover home school and nonpublic students?
Yes. Section 124D.09 reaches students in public districts, charter schools, nonpublic schools, and home school, and the department publishes separate paperwork steps for each.
Sources
- Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.09 · the subdivisions on eligibility, notice, payment, and fees
- MDE, Postsecondary Enrollment Options
- MDE, PSEO Program Guide
- MDE, PSEO school finance
- Minnesota State Procedure 3.5.1
Rules change. These were checked September 2026. Confirm the current version with your school before you act on any of it.
Reading the Minnesota rules with a decision in front of you?
Save this page and the citations sit next to the state's deadlines on your own My FastTrack page. Which courses to take, in which order, so the credits still count at the college your teen ends up at, is the part we do with families.