PSEO in Minnesota: the law behind it

The statute

Minn. Stat. § 124D.09

Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act . Subdivisions 3, 4, 5, 5a, 7, 13, 19, and 22.

Most of the program sits in this section. Subdivision 5 lets 11th and 12th graders in a district, charter school, or American Indian-controlled Tribal contract or grant school apply to an eligible college; the statute sets no academic bar, and the Department of Education says each college applies its own entrance requirements. Subdivision 5a opens a first career and technical course at a Minnesota State college or university to 10th graders with a passing score on the 8th grade reading MCA, or another reading test the college accepts if they did not take it, and a C or better in it obliges that college to allow more. Subdivision 4 brings in nonpublic and home school students as alternative pupils, who register with the commissioner of education first. Subdivision 3 defines the eligible colleges. A 2023 amendment there barred them from requiring a faith statement; a federal court struck it down in August 2025 in Loe v. Jett, but the words are still printed, with a Revisor’s note on the ruling. 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. Subdivision 22 sets mileage reimbursement for low-income families.

Minn. Stat. § 135A.101

Postsecondary enrollment options: requirements for colleges .

The college side of the program. A college or university must follow this section to take part in PSEO. It may not enroll PSEO students in developmental courses or other courses that are not college level, and once one Minnesota State college or university certifies that a student completed a course in a goal area or the transfer curriculum, every Minnesota State school must treat that course as completed when the student enrolls after high school.

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. The duty falls on students enrolled in a district, charter or Tribal contract school; nonpublic and home school students register with the commissioner of education under subdivision 4 instead.

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, American Indian-controlled Tribal contract or grant schools, nonpublic schools, and home school. Nonpublic and home school students take part as alternative pupils, who must register with the commissioner of education, and the department publishes separate paperwork steps for each.

Does the statute still bar colleges from requiring a faith statement?

No, though the printed text says so. A 2023 amendment to subdivision 3(a) barred eligible colleges from requiring a faith statement from a PSEO applicant. On August 22, 2025, in Loe v. Jett, the U.S. District Court for Minnesota ordered the amendment stricken from the statute in full, including its nondiscrimination language. The Revisor still prints the words, with a note citing the ruling, so a family reading the statute alone would get the wrong answer.