The South Dakota Board of Regents wants to freeze the cost of in-state tuition next year. In exchange, the Board has requested nearly six million dollars in state government support.
The South Dakota Board of Regents wants to prevent higher tuition rates for students for the 2014-2015 school year. Jack Warner is the Executive Director and CEO of the South Dakota Board of Regents. He says three main factors affect raising tuition: pay increases for faculty and staff, inflation in operating budgets, and the rise in healthcare costs for employees. Warner says the Board seeks support from state general revenues, rather than shifting the costs to students.
"When you total all that up, it comes to just under about six million dollars in order for us to freeze tuition. So if we're able to get that appropriated, it would mean that we would then keep our tuition and fees at the same level as students are paying this year," Warner says.
Warner says the Board does not want students to turn down higher education because they lack the financial resources.
"Our ultimate goal is to make students successful, so we don't want to see students failing to enroll because they can't afford and we don't want to see students having to drop out because they're working too much, or have too many financial pressures on their progress," Warner says.
Warner says this budget request is a long process that won't end until mid-March. The tuition freeze would apply to South Dakota residents attending any of the six public universities in the state.