National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education Gives North Dakota “F” On Affordability

A troubling report from the Dakota Student:

North Dakota received an F in terms of affordability of higher education in the state, but as tuition and fees continue to rise, many are seeing a trend not only here at home but throughout the country.
The study, “Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education” which came from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave nearly every state a failing grade in affordability. California received a C-.
According to the report, higher education has become “less affordable” for students and their families since last year. Additionally, the state spends a mere 10 cents per dollar funded by the Pell Grant aid program.

This is especially troubling because, at least as of 2006, North Dakota ranked second in the nation in terms of higher education spending per-capita.
North Dakotans are paying the tax equivalent of a pound of flesh for higher education in this state, yet North Dakotans who send their kids to state universities aren’t seeing any savings in tuition.
Now, I actually don’t think the state should be in the business of subsidizing higher education. I think far too many kids are going to college and paying tens of thousands of dollars to get degrees they don’t even need and can’t really use. But since universities are in the state constitution, and since North Dakota taxpayers are obligated to subsidize them, we should at the very least be asking why we seem to be throwing massive amounts of funding at these schools and not seeing any benefit in terms of lower tuition costs for our kids.