With promises of their own, North Dakota universities brace for Minnesota's North Star Promise this fall (2024)

GRAND FORKS — The North Star Promise Scholarship Program will this fall begin to cover tuition expenses for eligible Minnesota students, creating a pathway to free college that may draw some Minnesota students from universities in neighboring states, including North Dakota.

North Dakota University System’s Vice Chancellor of Strategy and Strategic Engagement Jerry Rostad said the response to the new program varies from campus to campus throughout North Dakota.

“I don’t know if we’re having any speculative expectations,” Rostad said. “But we’re monitoring it closely at the system level.”

To be eligible for Minnesota Promise assistance, students must be a Minnesota resident attending an in-state public higher education institution or tribal college with a family adjusted gross income of less than $80,000, according to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education’s website. The program also requires that students be taking at least one credit in a program that applies for a degree, diploma or certificate, meet satisfactory academic progress standards and not already have earned a bachelor’s degree.

During the first school year, the office estimates that the program will affect 15,000 to 20,000 Minnesota students.

According to UND’s Vice Provost of Strategic Enrollment Management Janelle Kilgore, the North Star Promise Scholarship Program covers whatever is remaining in the cost of attendance after scholarships and state and federal financial aid are applied.

Since Minnesota made its announcement, Kilgore said UND has been doing assessments on which potential students at UND would qualify for free tuition under the North Star Promise Tuition Program. She said they found that many of the students who would qualify live in East Grand Forks, which Kilgore said accounts for the majority of the university’s population most likely to be living at home.

For these students, Kilgore said they may choose to forgo free tuition in Minnesota if their family can help them defray the additional costs that come with going to school, like food and housing.

“It potentially may be a wash, or it may be more expensive for them to attend another institution if they have to move away,” Kilgore said.

Unlike some other North Dakota University System schools, Kilgore said UND doesn’t have a program intended to match the North Star Promise.

For low-income students more generally, Kilgore said the university has a number of opportunities to help manage the cost of attendance. Such programs include the Open Door Scholarship, which provides tuition assistance to current students facing financial difficulties due to unexpected crises, such as sudden illness or loss of income, and the Angel Fund, which provides students in the same situation with a maximum of $750 for situations beyond cost of attendance after submitting a request form and being approved by the vice president for student affairs and diversity. Neither program requires the student to disclose their financial situation, apart from a personal statement.

Kilgore also mentioned the food pantry located at the Memorial Union, which is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and is accessible to all current UND students.

During the 2023-2024 school year, 3,798 of UND’s students were from Minnesota, accounting for 26.8% of the university’s 14,172 students, according to the UND student body profile .

As of May, Kilgore said roughly 18% of students at UND receive Pell Grants, which are awarded by the federal government to undergraduate students with exceptional financial need.

Kilgore said UND has not heard from any potential students who decided to not attend UND because they could receive free tuition at other schools.

“Honestly, if that is the reason why, then that’s the best decision for them financially and we can’t fault them for that,” Kilgore said.

Since 1975, North Dakota has maintained a tuition reciprocity program with Minnesota, where students from each state are able to attend a school from the other, paying only in-state tuition and a reciprocity fee.

Last November, North Dakota State University announced their Tuition Award Program , which covers base tuition and mandatory student fees for Pell-eligible first- or second-year students from Minnesota or North Dakota with a family income of less than $80,000 per year.

Senior Director of Strategic Enrollment Management Seinquis Leinen said the program is only available through spring 2026, but that the university hopes to continue it in the future.

At North Dakota State University, for the 2023-2024 school year, undergraduate students from Minnesota account for a greater portion of the enrollment than undergraduate students from North Dakota, according to the university’s undergraduate student body profile .

According to Leinen, as of May, 20% of NDSU’s undergraduate student body is eligible for Pell Grants.

During that school year, 5,089 of its 10,241 undergraduate students – roughly half – crossed the Red River from Minnesota to enroll at NDSU, while 4,291 were from North Dakota.

“When you look at past data, NDSU is the No. 1 out-of-state destination for students leaving Minnesota,” Leinen said. “I think because we offer a high-quality education that’s also affordable, we are appealing to many students in Minnesota.”

The average cost for a four-year degree at a public North Dakota university during the 2023-2024 academic year was $16,691, compared with $19,243 at the regional average for universities. It's a $2,552 difference, according to the North Dakota University System’s 2024 affordability report. The regional universities used for comparison, include peer institutions from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

In the 2019-2020 school year, the difference between NDUS schools and their regional peers was $2,455, but then steadily thinned until it reached $1,342 during the 2022-2023 school year. In 2023, the North Dakota Legislature passed a bill that froze tuition for the 2023-2024 academic year so the cost wouldn’t increase from its 2022-2023 level.

During a June North Dakota State Board of Higher Education meeting, university leaders in North Dakota discussed the potential for major losses as a result of the North Star Scholarship Program. In a presentation, NDSU Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Institutional Equity Laura Oster-Aaland said NDSU received 1,301 first-year students from Minnesota in 2021, accounting for 52% of that freshman class. This made NDSU the No. 1 out-of-state destination for Minnesota students. UND ranked fourth, with 670 first-year students from Minnesota, or 38% of its freshmen class.

According to the presentation, the North Dakota University System estimated the potential loss as a result of the North Star Promise based on an assumption that half of Pell-eligible Minnesota students will stay in their home state to take advantage of the program.

For NDSU, the estimated a loss is 365 students, or $6,588,430 in combined tuition, fees and funding. For UND, the estimate was 260 students, or $4,665,414. For the North Dakota University System, the estimated loss was 740 students, or a total of $12,859,533.

“This is our best guess,” Oster-Aaland said during the presentation. “Obviously, nobody knows exactly what is going to happen.”

Other North Dakota University System schools have also reacted to the North Star Promise since its announcement, Rostad said.

Valley City State University announced its Viking Promise in February, which will cover the tuition of Pell-eligible students taking at least 12 credits during the 2024-2025 school year.

Dickinson State University announced its Blue Hawk Promise in February, which applies to new first-year or transfer students from Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota. Pell eligibility, good academic standing and enrollment in at least 12 credits are all required for students to receive the scholarships.

Similarly, Bismarck State College launched its Great Plains Promise in February, which conversely only applies to North Dakota residents but provides free tuition for new, first-year or transfer students taking at least 12 credits and with a family income of less than $80,000 per year.

“I guess you could say (these were) in part a reaction to it,” Rostad said, referring to the North Star Promise. “But it’s also a marketing opportunity.”

According to Rostad, it's reasonable to expect to see more tuition-covering programs, not just in North Dakota, but across the country as higher education institutions begin to compete for a demographic that is otherwise priced out.

“These promises are certainly an aggressive response to making sure that we can recruit students and get them to our campuses,” Rostad said. “And so there’s a battle going on out there for getting students and getting them to your campus.”

Going forward, Rostad said the system will have to monitor the enrollment numbers at the North Dakota University System schools and that they won’t know for sure what impact the North Star Promise will have on them until later.