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 May 9th, 2011


Board Approves Massive Tuition Increase

 

 

This morning the State Board of Higher Education approved an 8.8% tuition increase for North Dakota State University (NDSU).

 

According to one report, President Dean Bresciani refused to outline specific areas of the budget that would be threatened without the tuition increase.   

 

"To come with specifics such as that would be completely inappropriate, and that would be threatening," replied Bresciani.

 

Jon Backes, outgoing president of the Board of Higher Education said that Bresciani didn't have enough time to put together an analysis of the situation without the 8.8% tuition increase.

 

Backes stated that Bresciani had only one week to come up with any kind of plan, referring to the end of the legislative session.

 

The fact that Bresciani did not offer details, and the board did not ask for details, but voted for the increase anyways simply shows how out-of-control the Board of Higher Education really is.  Fortunately, there were 3 dissenting votes, which is unusual since most action by the Board is unanimous.

 

Last week, we told you about this sudden plan, and how this 8.8% tuition increase would be on top of the 10.2% increase in on-going state funding.   

 

KFGO Radio reported Bresciani as saying: "diminishing support is at least a decade in the making and without any significant changes in the just completed legislative session, the university must now choose to cut programs, faculty and staff or raise tuition."

 

After some digging, it turns out that state funding for NDSU has increased 76% since 2003.  There was no evidence of "diminishing support" from the state. 

 

Funding may not have increased as much as NDSU or President Bresciani would like, or it may not have increased as much as the University of North Dakota's (UND) funding has increased, but neither of those situations constitute "diminished support."

 

Anyone who knows anything about how public policy works knows that decisions this big are generally not made within a weeks' time.  The legislature just adjourned a couple weeks ago, and increased NDSU's on-going budget by 10.2%.   

 

Clearly, these concerns were intentionally held back until the legislature left town.  President Bresciani certainly would not want to move into the crosshairs of the legislature during a session when a plan to abolish the Board of Higher Education was being discussed.  Obviously there is a lack of respect for the legislature, which has approved the 76% increase in funding for NDSU since 2003. 

 

President Bresciani misled the Board of Higher Education by refusing to offer any sort of explanation as to why the tuition increases would be needed.  This sort of thing is a basic budgeting requirement.  There is no explaining why the Board of Higher Education did not insist on details.  In the real world, these things don't happen.   

 

However, neither the North Dakota University System nor the Board of Higher Education have ever been accused of living in reality.






- Dustin Gawrylow, Executive Director

North Dakota Taxpayers' Association

Office: (701) 751-2530 

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