Current:Home > MarketsNorth Dakota lawmakers eye Minnesota free tuition program that threatens enrollment-LoTradeCoin
North Dakota lawmakers eye Minnesota free tuition program that threatens enrollment
View Date:2024-12-23 20:26:17
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota lawmakers and higher education leaders are beginning to chart a path for how to respond to neighboring Minnesota’s upcoming program that will offer income-based free tuition to thousands of students.
Higher education leaders on Wednesday detailed the situation to an interim legislative panel. A state senator also presented a bill draft proposing a North Dakota program similar to Minnesota’s North Star Promise.
North Star Promise takes effect in fall 2024. It will cover undergraduate tuition and fees at the state’s public post-secondary schools for Minnesota residents whose family income is under $80,000, after they have used other sources of financial aid.
North Dakota higher education leaders are worried about losing Minnesota students. About 1,400 of them at five eastern North Dakota schools could be eligible for North Star Promise. Minnesotans make up nearly half the student body at North Dakota State University in Fargo, the No. 1 out-of-state choice for first-year Minnesota students.
Legislative staff and higher education officials will work on potential options in response to North Star Promise, said Republican state Rep. Mark Sanford, who chairs the Legislature’s interim Higher Education Committee.
Tuition cost is “certainly not the only element” Minnesota students consider in where to go to college, he said. Quality and availability of programs “are important parts of this, too,” Sanford said Thursday.
Admissions offices already are recruiting 2024 and 2025 high school graduates.
Marketing “the overall quality” of North Dakota programs to Minnesotans will be key, said North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott. He said he’s confident current Minnesota students will stick with North Dakota.
“The concern is really the new students making decisions, and they and their parents may be confused by what might be a headline and not understanding the total value package, so that’s why we need to be sure we get that information out,” Hagerott said.
Lawmakers and state officials see higher education as a key component to addressing North Dakota’s labor shortage by keeping graduates to fill open jobs.
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Minnesota students annually will use North Star Promise. In one scenario, education officials in North Dakota projected an $8.4 million loss in combined tuition and fees just in the first year.
Democratic state Sen. Tim Mathern has pitched a $17 million “Dakota Promise” forgivable student loan program for high school graduates of North Dakota and neighboring states, but “targeted to North Dakota residents,” he said.
His proposal, which is in early draft form, would cover undergraduate tuition and fees at North Dakota’s 11 public colleges and universities as well as the five tribal colleges. The proposal has the same income limit as North Star Promise.
Loan recipients would have to live and work in North Dakota for three years after graduation for their loans to be completely forgiven.
“It’s a new way for more North Dakotans to afford to go to college, so if five Minnesotans leave, this gives five more North Dakotans the idea to go to college,” Mathern said.
His proposal also includes an income tax credit for employers who pay for an employee’s tuition.
North Dakota’s Legislature meets every two years and will convene next in January 2025.
veryGood! (98614)
Related
- Minnesota county to pay $3.4M to end lawsuit over detainee’s death
- Man freed after 11 years in prison sues St. Louis and detectives who worked his case
- Think twice before scanning a QR code — it could lead to identity theft, FTC warns
- Bills coach Sean McDermott apologizes for crediting 9/11 hijackers for their coordination while talking to team in 2019
- Black, red or dead: How Omaha became a hub for black squirrel scholarship
- Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott reveals the groups that got some of her $2.1 billion in gifts in 2023
- Nashville Police investigation into leak of Covenant School shooter’s writings is inconclusive
- Sulfuric acid spills on Atlanta highway; 2 taken to hospital after containers overturn
- NATO’s Rutte calls for more Western support for Ukraine, warns of Russian alliances
- Mexico raids and closes 31 pharmacies in Ensenada that were selling fentanyl-laced pills
Ranking
- Halle Berry Rocks Sheer Dress She Wore to 2002 Oscars 22 Years Later
- Could Trevor Lawrence play less than a week after his ankle injury? The latest update
- AI creates, transforms and destroys... jobs
- As UN climate talks near crunch time, activists plan ‘day of action’ to press negotiators
- As Northeast wildfires keep igniting, is there a drought-buster in sight?
- A ‘soft landing’ or a recession? How each one might affect America’s households and businesses
- Harvard president apologizes for remarks on antisemitism as pressure mounts on Penn’s president
- Jonathan Majors begged accuser to avoid hospital, warning of possible ‘investigation,’ messages show
Recommendation
-
US Congress hopes to 'pull back the curtain' on UFOs in latest hearing: How to watch
-
Think twice before scanning a QR code — it could lead to identity theft, FTC warns
-
One of America's last Gullah Geechee communities at risk following revamped zoning laws
-
French police address fear factor ahead of the Olympic Games after a deadly attack near Eiffel Tower
-
Controversial comedian Shane Gillis announces his 'biggest tour yet'
-
More than 70 million people face increased threats from sea level rise worldwide
-
Chinese leaders wrap up annual economic planning meeting with scant details on revving up growth
-
Police still investigating motive of UNLV shooting; school officials cancel classes, finals