The president of Minot State University is raising concerns about the University System’s move to “per credit hour” tuition rates.
Steve Shirley told the Board of Higher Education’s Budget and Finance Committee – tuition rates are “banded” at Minot State, as well as UND and NDSU.
"That allows a student, whether they're taking anywhere from 12 to 18 credits to pay a flat rate," Shirley said. He said under the new tuition policy, NDSU and UND would be able to keep that “banded” tuition – but the others likely would not.
"A student taking 15 credits at Minot State would see, if we moved to per-credit tuition, those rates go up about 13 percent," Shirley said. "Nevermind the 3 or 4 percent annual increases -- that's just the difference in going from banding to per-credit."
Shirley said an MSU student taking 18 credit hours would see tuition rates jump 36 percent.
"It's certainly a detriment to the student," Shirley said. "It also makes us far less cost-competitive, relative to NDSU and UND, if those two institutions retain banding."
And Shirley said it will actually discourage students from finishing their degrees in four years. He wants to have more discussion with the Board on that tuition policy.
Some of the colleges – Williston State, Valley City State and the State College of Science –- already charge per-hour tuition rates.