North Dakota Legislators Considering A Tuition Freeze
Because government price controls always work so well.
(BISMARCK) Students would receive a break from rising tuition under bipartisan, bicameral legislation introduced in the North Dakota Legislature Thursday. The bill, SB 2238, would provide for “tuition freeze” at North Dakota’s public universities during the next two years while appropriating $26.5 million from the state general fund to ensure that the state’s campuses remain fully funded.
The cost of obtaining a college education in North Dakota has risen dramatically in the last several years. For example, tuition and mandatory fees at the University of North Dakota have increased from $3,261 during the 2001-2002 school year to $6,513 today – a rise of 99.7%.
This increase in the price of higher education is taking its toll on students. As noted by the Project on Student Debt, North Dakota ranks second in the country in the percentage of students who are forced to finance their education through student loans. The average debt held by these students is $21,648, which ranks 15th nationally.
In 2007, the Montana Legislature took action to maintain college affordability in that state by implementing a two-year tuition freeze. Partially as a result, in-state tuition and mandatory fees at the University of Montana are nearly $1,400 less per year than at the University of North Dakota.
Price caps are rarely good policy, because price caps don’t address the reason why prices are going up in the first place. All they are is a government mandate made by arrogant policymakers who think they can control markets through, well, mandates.
They can’t.
If we want to solve tuition problems we must address what’s causing them. And what’s causing run-away tuition costs in North Dakota is a university system spoiled rotten with endless funding and tuition subsidy from political leaders. After all, why should the universities charge less for tuition when no matter what they charge policy makers will raise subsidies to make it affordable?
Plus, all a tuition cap does is give the university system another excuse to demand more funding. These policymakers signed on to this effort to cap tuition may think they’re holding higher education prices down, but there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. In this instance, we’ll pay for that lower tuition through increased general fund spending on higher education in general.
