Northwest Iowa — The South Dakota Board of Regents has approved a tuition reduction designed to lure undergraduate students from northwest Iowa to one of South Dakota’s state universities.
The Board of Regents approved a proposal this (Friday, April 1st) morning that would extend in-state tuition to new first-year freshman or new transfer students at the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, Dakota State University, and Northern State University.
University of South Dakota President Jim Abbott says they used to have droves of students from northwest Iowa.
While the out-of-state rates have since been reduced to 125% of in-state, he says that market has never been recovered. Abbott says the South Dakota schools have also had competition from the three public universities in Iowa.
Abbott says South Dakota intends to aggressively pursue students in Iowa, especially in northwest Iowa.
The Board of Regents vote affects Dakota State University in Madison, Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota State University in Brookings and University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Officials at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City and Black Hills State University in Spearfish say they don’t believe joining in on the proposal would affect their enrollment rates.
