I woke up this morning to multiple emails from state lawmakers and SAB readers linking me to this Vox article about the relationship between state appropriations for higher education and tuition costs. According to Vox, tuition hikes are a product of budget cuts for universities. “One reason student debt has skyrocketed is that public colleges…
Student Body President: UND Tried To Hide Tuition Hikes From Legislature
If there is one area of policy that causes more rancor in the increasingly cold relationship between the Legislature and the North Dakota University System it is tuition. Many of the actions lawmakers have taken in recent years, up to and including an effort to take the control over tuition away from the universities, is…
John Mitzel: UND's Proposed Tuition Model Is Bad For Students, Higher Education, And The State
The new tuition models under consideration by the UND administration should be of deep concern to UND students, the State Board of Higher Education, the North Dakota legislature, and the citizenry as a whole. From the discussion that has taken place, it appears that UND’s goal is to encourage more students to enroll in 15…
UND Proposes Massive Tuition Hike
A couple of weeks ago the state Senate voted down HB1303 which would have given the Legislature control over setting tuition. The university system budget passed by the House, HB1003, contains similar language giving lawmakers control over tuition, but it seems unlikely that the Senate is going to keep that provision intact. But even as…
ND Senate Kills Tuition Bill, Blames Student Debt On Students
There’s an old saw, usually attributed erroneously to Albert Einstein, about insanity being defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Whoever said it, there’s a grain of truth to it. Especially when it comes to higher education in North Dakota. There’s little disagreement over the idea that…
Video: North Dakota House Approves Bill Giving Legislature Control Over Tuition
The North Dakota House today debated HB1303. It was introduced by Rep. Kim Koppelman (R-West Fargo), and it would take authority for setting tuition away from the State Board of Higher Education and give it back to the Legislature. About a week ago I wrote about how the university system uses tuition as a political…
On Television: Blogger On Drugs
I was on drugs for my regular weekly segment with Chris Berg on Valley News Live last night. I’ve been fighting a head cold all week, and I took a dose of Nyquil before the show (it’s all we had) hoping that it would counteract my stuffy nose and cough quicker than the drowsiness kicked…
Free Tuition For North Dakota Students? Only If We Give It To The Students
Valley News Live asked University of North Dakota President Robert Kelly at a recent event if North Dakota should use its windfall of tax revenues to pay for tuition for the state’s college students. Kelly, as you can see in the video report, seemed to like the idea. And of course he would. What business…
Shocker: North Dakota University System Holds Tuition Hostage For Higher Pay, Benefits
The Bismarck Tribune today has an editorial about the growing gulf between legislators and the university system (my story yesterday about the utter lack of trust between the two sides on open records requests illustrates this too). The editorial itself isn’t all that interesting, but this paragraph detailing what the university system wants in exchange for…
SBHE Member: Complaints About Legislative Funding Of Universities Are "Hogwash"
The last meeting of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education had to remove the issue of tuition hikes from their agenda after students complained that they hadn’t been given proper notice of the issue. At today’s meeting of the SBHE the issue was very much on the agenda, and watching the debate for anyone…