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Minnesota officials have been negotiating with their counterparts in Wisconsin over the higher education reciprocity agreement between the neighboring states.

As the agreement currently stands, Minnesota and Wisconsin residents can attend each other's public colleges and pay in-state tuition--that is, whatever they would pay at a comparable institution in their own state.

The agreement allows Wisconsin residents to attend the University of Minnesota and pay about $1200 per year less than Minnesota residents pay--a situation Minnesota officials were hoping that Wisconsin officials would agree to change.

It's not as if the money were permanently lost to Minnesota--at the end of the year, the states settle their accounts with each other. Last year, for example, Wisconsin paid Minnesota $6.5 to make up the difference between what Wisconsin residents pay and what the Minnesota in-state tuition would have cost (the payment goes directly to the State of Minnesota, not to the University).

The Pioneer Press has the full scoop:

With little leverage, Minnesota officials said Thursday they will keep talking to their colleagues to the east. But there's not much short-term hope to change what's become a big advantage for Wisconsin and a financial pain — to the tune of more than $6 million per year in lost tuition — for the U.

"We're very disappointed. We've been working on this for quite some time. We thought we were making some progress," said Susan Heegaard, a key aide to Gov. Tim Pawlenty on higher education policy.

She expects the issue to come up at the Legislature in coming weeks during higher education funding talks.