That tuition freeze came just at the right time. According to the Board of Regents’ Regional Tuition and Fee Survey for this school year, we’ve been soaking our in-state students:
Over the ten-year period, only Idaho increased undergraduate resident tuition and fees more than did South Dakota, 71.4% increase compared to 63.9% increase. South Dakota’s nonresident undergraduate tuition and fees costs remained virtually unchanged over that same time period…. South Dakota also increased its total cost for undergraduate residents by more than any other state at 67.0%, followed by Nebraska at 58.1% [South Dakota Board of Regents, 2015–2016 Regional Tuition & Fee Survey, 2016.03.30].
The Regental report says we’re giving non-resident students the best deal they’ll find the eight-state region (us, our neighbors, and Idaho) to recruit workforce. That’s a reasonable strategy, but our homegrown undergrads have been footing the bill, paying more for in-state tuition and fees than everyone in the region except for Minnesotans.
We go a bit easier on our resident graduate students. A year of grad school in our Regental system is actually cheaper for South Dakota residents than a year of undergraduate work, an oddity in the region except in Nebraska, where graduate tuition and fees for Nebraskans is three bucks cheaper than undergraduate education. Our law school and med school rank fourth and second lowest in the region, respectively, for resident tuition and fees.
It’s still cheaper for a South Dakotan to study in-state than pay non-resident rates elsewhere. However, while I understand the Regental motivation to promote ongoing enrollment growth and the need to reach beyond our borders to make that happen, we should rebalance our resident/non-resident tuition burdens and place a little more value on retaining our own sons and daughters in our universities and our workforce.
Have 2 daughters at UNL and one at sdsu. And yes tuition is highest at Nebraska. The 3 daughters had ACT scores from 29 to 31. So our local education worked. Here’s the kicker. The scholarships available in SD are poor at best. Daughters in NE received scholarships while at Unl that made up about 65% of there total cost. The sdsu received about 10% scholarship. When exploring opurtunity at other schools and states found out similar circumstances. Also go to orientation mtg at sdsu, they will tell you graduation rate is around 50%. They just want ur money. And yes I want my children to return home, but that is decision will let them make
Jay, I’d love to see a transfer of dollars from GOED to scholarships that would have made SDSU a better deal for your two UNL daughters. Keeping our best and brightest here is economic development.
Why is South Dakota granting Iowan residents the benefit of in state tuition and not Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota, the other states that touch our borders?