IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The South Dakota Board of Regents is considering a proposal that would extend in-state, undergraduate tuition rates to new Iowa students at four of its public universities.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen (http://icp-c.com/1PFkUKN ) reports that the board is scheduled to vote this week on the proposal that would affect Dakota State University in Madison, Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota State University in Brookings and the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.
"That shows you the power of Iowa enrollment," said Scott Pohlson, vice president of enrollment, marketing and university relations at the University of South Dakota. "Schools want Iowa students."
Officials at the 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.
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Pohlson said the state already has a reciprocity agreement with Minnesota, but that the Iowa proposal would be "one-way only."
In the past five years, the University of South Dakota's in-state student population has been stable at about 60 percent, but enrollment of Iowa students has dropped from 15 percent of the freshman class to 11 percent. The number of transfer students from Iowa has also decreased.
Although most of the university's Iowa students are from the northwest corner of the state, Polson said university officials hope the lower tuition rate attracts students from as far as the Des Moines and Mason City areas.
"It's a reflection of the competitive landscape in higher education," Pohlson said.
South Dakota regent officials say the effort is necessary to counter Iowa's push to retain their students in the state.
"With what Iowa schools are doing in terms of tuition — both for public and private schools — the competitiveness of price is becoming more and more apparent," Pohlson said. "This is a long-term strategy to ensure that we stay affordable to Iowans."
Iowa Board of Regents spokesman Josh Lehman said the board no comment on the South Dakota proposal.
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Information from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, http://www.press-citizen.com/
