Tuition to rise 9.5 percent
MINOT, N.D. — Rebuffing student pleas for a lower increase, the State Board of Higher Education agreed to boost tuition rates from 8 percent to 9.9 percent this fall. Board members defeated a proposal to cap the increase at 6.5 percent.
“ It’s got to stop somewhere. I’d love to see it stop today,” said Dante Miller, who asked board members to limit fall tuition increases to 5 percent at all campuses.
President Joseph Chapman said NDSU’s budgeting process had initially included a 13 percent tuition increase, before it was pared to 9.5 percent.
College presidents said their schools have been hammered by higher energy costs. They estimate that $5 million of the tuition increase will be spent on higher-than-expected fuel bills.
“ We’ve got to eat a lot of things. Our electric bill has gone up by a million dollars,” Chapman said. “I mean, there are things that we just simply can’t control.”
The board’s student member, Patricia Olson, said students have difficulty handling college studies “if they’re working two or three jobs just to afford their education.”
“ I don’t know what the answer is, but the answer is not putting a burden on students. We can’t handle it any more,” Olson, a finance major at UND, said. “Thank goodness I’m graduating in a month. I don’t know what I would do next year.”
College administrators said they sympathized with students’ concerns, but argued that cutting back the tuition requests would prevent them from accomplishing important campus goals, such as improving programs and raising salaries for professors.
Administrators promised to lobby the Legislature aggressively for added taxpayer support for North Dakota’s university system in hopes of relieving the pressure for future tuition increases. Student leaders said they would join the effort.
Sharon Etemad, president of Lake Region State College at Devils Lake, said North Dakota’s colleges cut back their operations during lean budget times. North Dakota’s treasury is now flush, and the state’s public colleges should get some of the bounty, Etemad said.
“ We’re told, ‘Suck it up,’ when we don’t have it. We have it now, and I think we should share in it,” Etemad said. “If we think higher education is part of the growth and economy of this state, I think now is the time that they (legislators) need to reward that, when we do have (money).”
North Dakota’s treasury has a surplus of more than $230 million, with a state “rainy day” fund of almost $100 million. Legislators believe the surplus could grow to almost $300 million by the time their next session begins in January.
Williston State College and the North Dakota State College of Science at Wahpeton had requested 8 percent tuition increases this fall. UND and Lake Region State College asked for 9 percent.
Bismarck State College, NDSU, Dickinson State University, Mayville State University, Minot State University and Valley City State University requested tuition increases of 9.5 percent. Minot State’s Bottineau campus wanted an increase of 9.9 percent.
Board member Bruce Christianson, a Minot businessman, suggested limiting the increases to 6.5 percent. That would provide money for inflationary cost increases and another 3 percent to provide salary increases and satisfy other needs, he said.
“ It’s unfair to continue tapping the student for unreasonable costs,” Christianson said. “They’re the most vulnerable, they’re easy to tap, but it’s not fair.”
He and Olson supported limiting the increase to 6.5 percent. The board has eight voting members, and the remaining six backed the college presidents’ tuition recommendations.
“ Watching various presidents struggle with putting their budgets together ... my personal view is, I can’t imagine a president not being conservative in what they are putting forth as a budget request,” Pam Kostelecky, the board’s president, said.
The increases take effect when the colleges begin their new academic years this fall. They hope the higher rates will raise $11.4 million. UND’s increase is expected to raise $4.5 million in added revenue, while NDSU is counting on $3.57 million.
Rich Braun, vice president for academic affairs at Dickinson State University, said trimming the school’s tuition request would mean cutting programs, increasing class sizes and cutting back on pay raises.
Dickinson State administrators considered asking for a 16 percent tuition increase, Braun said.
“ For us to get down to 9.5 percent was a real challenge,” Braun said. “For us to go down to 6.5 percent ... For medium-sized schools, this is a very significant decrease in revenue that we sorely need.”