Chip Taylor

Trying to reverse the brain drain in South Dakota

Tuition rising? Not in South Dakota.
State aims to lure youth by offering a break on college costs.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – While the nation's public and private colleges keep boosting tuition in a seemingly relentless upward spiral, South Dakota has a different idea.

It's cutting the cost of college for out-of-state residents.

The South Dakota Board of Regents announced last week that, starting next fall, it was slashing tuition for all new out-of-state students by slightly more than half. The change affects prospective students mostly in the eastern half of the United States, since those from neighboring and western states have been paying the lower rate for several years.

The reason for the change is demographics. Like many Plains states, South Dakota faces a dwindling number of children and, thus, high school graduates.

A committee charged with surveying high school enrollment recently told the state's Board of Regents that high school graduation enrollments could drop by as much as 13 percent over the next decade. That, in turn, could reduce the number of South Dakotans entering the state's universities and other post-secondary institutions, which currently have 31,000 students enrolled.

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In South Dakota, the cuts mean that first-time out-of-state freshmen will pay $114.60 per credit hour - or an average $3,666 next year - down from $7,763 this year. The cuts will be phased in to include sophomores the following year, juniors the year after that, and so on. In-state rates, which are two-thirds lower, don't change.

Tennessee, meanwhile, is considering a proposal to reduce the nearby out-of-state rate as low as the in-state rate - giving neighboring states total reciprocity.

Since most students settle down within 500 miles of where they attended college, Mr. Jewett says, the hope is that they will not only study in-state, but stay.

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