PIERRE, SD (KELO AM) The South Dakota Board of Regents will consider increasing the cost of an education at the state's six public universities.
Regents Executive Director Mike Rush says one option is to increase school activity fees by about 2.4 percent to keep up with inflation. It's a good investment.
"The best way to save money in college is to get through the program and not drop out. We think those student activities are a critical part of the entire mix," Rush tells KELO Radio News.
The second option includes selective tuition hikes.
"Essentially contains the option one but also adds an adjustment to the tuition charge for the three comprehensive institutions, that's Black Hills State, Northern, and Dakota State," Rush explains that this option would increase total costs an average 2.9 percent.
Rush says these are reasonable proposals, considering the Regents lost about a $1 million in the state budget,
"I mean, we could have justified a much larger tuition increase if we were trying to make up the million dollars, for example, but we did not take that into consideration."
The Board of Regents is scheduled to consider the proposed increases next week. Tuition increases have already been approved for South Dakota technical schools.
