In this day of rising tuition, lay offs and mortgage foreclosures, it’s disheartening to see the top staff at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system take $287,500 in bonuses for work done last year.

Obviously, MnSCU officials weren’t listening to the public outrage when bonuses were paid to Wall Street executives and insurance company CEOs under similar scenarios.

They shouldn’t be surprised now when unions, who have seen members laid off because of financial difficulties, criticize the bonus policy and amounts of these bonuses.

Even stranger, MnSCU officials are attempting to justify the bonuses that were paid earlier this month.The system trustees call the policy a good way to reward its executives for meeting certain goals.

Thirty-four of the system’s top employees — who likely already are paid a decent wage — received bonuses that ranged from $3,000 to $12,000.

Chancellor James McCormick received the largest amount at $32,500; a college president, a university president and a vice chancellor received $12,000 each.

These latter amounts may represent the annual wage for many Koochiching County residents.

The average amount of the bonuses, excluding McCormick’s, is $7,500.

Don’t get us wrong. We believe that the people who lead one of our state’s top education systems should be paid an appropriate wage for the work they do.

But it is almost obscene that many people are losing their jobs and homes, and curtailing furthering their education, because of the downturn in the economy. You can see it across the nation, as well as in Minnesota and Koochiching County.

With the state’s continued cloudy economic forecast, MnSCU officials should reconsider this policy.