Affordable Tuition
|  Video
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| Amanda Tetlak |
| 10/23/2009 |
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| No matter how you look at it, getting a college education isn`t cheap. But the University System says as tuition and fees increase nationally, North Dakota is holding down college cost increases. The goal behind it is to retain North Dakota`s youth, and the University System says students are responding. Students say one of the major factors in choosing a college is cost. "I picked BSC because it`s probably the most affordable place in North Dakota that I felt I could attend college," says Bismarck State College Freshman Kaitlyn McCart. This year, the University System says compared to schools nationally, North Dakota colleges and universities are affordable. Nationwide in-state tuition and fees at public four year colleges increased nearly double the rate in North Dakota, and at two years schools tuition and fees increased nearly seven times more nationally than they did in North Dakota. The University System says it`s because the state legislature approved a tuition rate freeze at two year schools and voted to keep increases to less than 3.5% at four year schools. "We could not have done that without the support of the Governor and the state legislature working in partnership to keep those costs down and to keep tuition at a very affordable rate," says Michel Hillman with the University System. And the goal is to not only help students get a higher education, but to also give them incentive to stay in state after graduation. "I think a lot of people who have lived here their whole life don`t want to stay here, but being that we do have colleges that aren`t so expensive, I think it`s going to keep a lot of people here," says McCart. "I`ve heard more and more of my friends wanting to live in Bismarck, possibly Fargo," says Bismarck State College freshman Austin Chmielewski. The University System says with increased enrollment at all 11 of the system`s Colleges and Universities, response from students has been tremendous. The University System`s budget also included $3 million in funding for two new scholarship programs and $19 million for needs-based financial aid. |
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