Student costs, tuition waivers increasing on North Dakota campuses

Mar. 26—BISMARCK — Students at North Dakota's 11 colleges and universities will face mostly low-single digit percentage increases in the cost of their education beginning this fall.

Schools are finalizing tuition, fees, housing and food rates for the 2024-25 academic year, which were presented at the State Board of Higher Education budget and finance committee meeting on March 13.

Base undergraduate tuition will not increase for 2024-25 under a bill passed by the Legislature in 2023.

However, housing and food rates will go up at all North Dakota colleges and universities, while certain mandatory fees will increase at about half of the schools, according to documents presented at the meeting.

Total proposed increases for 2024-25 range from a low of 1.6%, or $354, at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, to a high of 4.3%, or $544.83, at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton and Fargo.

The total proposed increase for students at North Dakota State University in Fargo is 2%, or $415.92, according to the documents.

The rates were calculated using an average full-time student taking 15 credits per semester.

Several schools, including NDSU, also made requests at the meeting for new program fees.

NDSU wants to establish a Transition and Access Program fee to help students with intellectual disabilities attend college and support their goals for academics, living independently and socializing.

Only students accepted into the Transition and Access Program would be charged the proposed fee of $2,000 per semester during the 2024-25 academic year and $4,000 per semester in the years to follow.

NDSU maintains parents of students with intellectual disabilities have expressed significant interest in the program, as there are limited services or programs available for those students after high school.

The fees will be used to pay salaries for a TAP director, coordinators, and peer mentors who will plan activities and support students enrolled in the program on campus.

This new program fee, and others proposed by other schools, still must be approved by the full State Board of Higher Education. Other fee increases fall within the authority of institution presidents to approve, with SBHE confirmation, said Jamie Wilke, director of finance at the North Dakota University System.

The proposed tuition, housing, food and fee rates are on the consent agenda of the next full board meeting on Wednesday, March 27.

As costs inch upward at North Dakota's colleges and universities, so does the number of students receiving partial or full tuition waivers by certain institutions.

Of the 40,760 degree-seeking students enrolled in North Dakota colleges and universities in 2022-23, more than 10,000, or nearly 25%, received tuition waivers totaling nearly $39.6 million, said Brenda Zastoupil, financial aid director for the university system.

That represents an 8.6% increase from the previous year, she said.

The documents point out those students receiving tuition waivers still paid campuses $98.6 million in tuition, housing and food plans, and mandatory fees, which is 2 1/2 times more than the value of waivers received.

North Dakota institutions offer state-mandated waivers, such as those given to dependents of POW/MIA veterans, or firefighters and peace officers killed in the line of duty, and SBHE required waivers awarded to benefited employees.

Together, those types of waivers totaled $6.3 million, or more than 15% of total waiver dollars awarded.

But that total is dwarfed by another category of waivers: those awarded at the discretion of each college and university, seen as a valuable tool in recruiting and retaining students.

Such waivers totaled $34 million in 2022-2023, representing nearly 85% of all waiver dollars issued, according to the NDUS documents.

More than $16 million of those discretionary waivers went to graduate assistants, while smaller amounts were awarded for cultural diversity and international students.

Zastoupil said graduate assistants fill a significant need on college campuses.

"Obviously they're our future leaders and are promoting those graduate programs in the state but they also provide critical research... as well as assist in teaching undergraduate courses, in some instances," she said.

Committee member Curtis Biller pointed out that waivers from the state's two large research institutions, NDSU and UND, make up about 90% of those awarded in the state, and that there's a discrepancy between the two.

In 2022-2023, NDSU granted more than $22 million in partial and full waivers benefitting more than 5,600 students.

UND granted just over $12 million in those waivers, benefitting nearly 2,000 students.

Biller asked whether any studies have been done to compare what North Dakota universities are offering in that regard compared with research universities in other comparable states.

Zastoupil said that is not being tracked at this time.