Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith announce that General Educational Development or GED testing is now available at no cost to eligible Minnesotans through July of 2016.

$100,000 in additional funding from the federal Workforce Investment Act makes the GED test free through July. Each year Minnesota provides $125,000 through the Minnesota Department of Education to partially reduce the cost of the GED test for some Minnesotans. The average fee for a GED test was $120. The Minnesota Department of Education estimates that as many as 2,000 Minnesotans could benefit from this free test. In 2015, over 3,600 Minnesotans took the GED.

Research shows that having a high school diploma or GED increases the earning power of individuals by 37.5 percent which is nearly a $10,000 per year median wage increase.

The Governor and Lt. Governor's 2016 Supplemental Budget proposal would invest another $120,000 to keep the test free for test takers in the year 2017. But for now, the GED test will be free at least through July 2016.

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