Dakota Beacon

North Dakota Leads The Nation In Subsidizing Out-Of-State College Students

A major policy issue that NDTA has long focused on is now getting national attention in the Wall Street Journal. That issue is the size and scope of taxpayer subsidization of out-of-state students.

According to the Wall Street Journal:   

"Out-of-state students account for about 55% of the 14,500

 enrolled at North Dakota State University, as well as at similarly sized University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Nonresident students at North Dakota's 11 public colleges constitute a higher ratio than in almost every other state."

These figures are no shock to those who follow the issue.

NDTA has long argued that the allocation of these tuition subsidies are not efficiently targeted due to the fact that so many of these out-of-state graduates simply leave the state once their cheap education is complete.

This discussion has consistently been shouted down by those that believe the system is working perfectly and that any criticize of these policy is simply xenophobia.  ( Click here for a KFGO radio clip on that issue. )

We know by way of the work that the North Dakota Policy Council has done that North Dakota has lost 60,000 college graduates over the last 20 years, many of these have been out-of-state students.

· Migration issues are detrimental to the state and pose serious problems from a public policy perspective as the scarce resources North Dakota spends on building up human capital through higher education benefits neighboring states far more.

· North Dakota is footing the bill for the formation of much of the human capital of its neighbors.

Click the image to watch the ND Policy Council's video analysis.