SDBOR expands Advantage rate to Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Students coming from Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota will now pay in-state tuition rates at South Dakota Board of Regents institutions.

The SDBOR approved adding the three states to it’s Advantage rate, joining all of South Dakota’s neighbors as well as Colorado, Illinois, and Wisconsin. In total, 11 states are now a part of the Advantage program.

The Board usually weighs expanding the program in it’s spring meetings, but the decision to add the three states came in it’s Thursday meeting. That allows its institutions to start advertising to prospective students, and try and get them to enroll in classes next fall.

“The reason we’re here for you with this proposal today, is because there’s a lot of marketing and promotion that goes into attracting new students, and we want to give our academic folks on our campuses an opportunity to really try to recruit some of those new students,” SDBOR System Vice President of Finance and Administration Heather Forney said.

Minnesota has had a reciprocity agreement with South Dakota for some time now, allowing students to pay a reduced rate. Now, students coming from that state will pay in-state tuition. The move to expand to Minnesota is in response to it’s North Star Promise Scholarship, providing free tuition to Minnesota residents that make less that $80,000 per year.

“We feel like we’ve got to do something to compete with that. We don’t want to lose the students we have. It’s a matter of, are we going to lose $2 million because those students are going to go to Minnesota, or will we lose maybe a little bit less because we’re going with a reciprocity rate? It’s a marketing strategy for us,” Forney said. “This is a good deal for us. It gets those students in the doors. It helps to fill our residence halls. Those students are participating in our meal plans, and they’re a part of our campus life.”

The program is touted as a win-win for students and the state. The incoming students save money by paying South Dakota’s in-state tuition, as opposed to more expensive options at home, and institutions bring in more students to keep enrollment numbers up.

The rate though only applies to new or transferring students coming to South Dakota; current students from Kansas and Missouri will not be granted in-state tuition rates. For Minnesota students, the Board plans to ensure that current students will continue to pay the reduced reciprocity rate until they graduate.

It’s also a move that Regents, some who came to South Dakota after attending college here, hope will add to the state’s workforce by convincing those students that come for cheaper tuition to stick around, rather than going home.

“I was able to overcome that out of state tuition, but not every kid is. If we’re going to expand the workforce in South Dakota, I think it’s a great way to get them to school here,” Regent Douglas Morrison said.

The expansion comes as higher education attendance is expected to drop in the coming years, meaning colleges and universities across the nation will be competing for students.

“Higher education is very dynamic at the moment, and that’s not going to change. We’re going to continue to see a series of actions, reactions, and this is a great proactive step for South Dakota to stay ahead of this,” SDBOR Executive Director Nathan Lukkes said.

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