MARSHALL — It will be free to apply to Minnesota State colleges and universities all through October, the Minnesota State system said this week.

It’s not the first time that Minnesota State has waived admission application fees, said Southwest Minnesota State University President Kumara Jayasuriya. However, Jayasuriya said the university still hoped prospective students would take the opportunity to apply for free.

“There’s always a big surge of applications in October, so we’re hoping to get a lot of applications,” Jayasuriya said.

On Monday, Minnesota State announced it would be waiving admission application fees for all 26 colleges and seven universities in its system during the month of October. The announcement came at a time when SMSU is setting goals to increase its student enrollment and retention.

On Friday, Jayasuriya said SMSU’s goal for the next year will be to increase overall enrollment by 7%, and first-year student enrollment by 5%.

There have been times in the past when Minnesota State has waived admission application fees. However, in its announcement Minnesota State said this will be the first time application is free for an entire month.

“The colleges and universities of Minnesota State offer an extraordinary educational experience and the lowest tuition and fees of all public or private higher education options in the state,” Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra said in a news release. “We are proud to take this exceptional value a step further by waiving the fee our colleges and universities normally charge when students apply for admission for the entire month of October – Minnesota State Month.”

Admission application fees vary around the Minnesota State system. According to SMSU’s online application page, their application fee for on-campus freshman students and on-campus transfer students is $20.

Prospective students can also submit applications for multiple colleges and universities at once on the Minnesota State website.