Students attending South Dakota Board of Regents (BOR) schools may experience an increase in tuition during the 2025-2026 academic year, pending the conclusion of the state legislative session. For four of the past five years, students have benefited from a tuition freeze at the state’s six BOR schools, but because of budget issues, prices might be going up for the 2025-2026 school year.
In December, former Gov. Kristi Noem proposed cutting the Regents system’s funding by roughly $11 million, $2 million in operational cuts and a $9 million building maintenance fund cut.
Because of a tighter budget than in previous years, the tuition freeze may be lifted for the next academic year. The amount, if lifted, is unknown until the completion of the legislative session in March.
“They can only spend what they have available. Fortunately, in the last couple of years, they’ve had good dollars,” SDSU’s Vice President of Finance & Budget, Michael Holbeck said, “It’s kind of an agreement between the board and the legislature, the legislature allocates dollars, then the board will set the tuition rate in April.” The Regents will meet on April 2 at Northern State University.
Despite changes in the budgeting process, Holbeck and his team aim to balance the quality and availability of classes, student support services and scholarships.
“We’re a land-grant mission, which means our goal is to provide access to higher education for all. We’ve done that several ways,” Holbeck said. “One, we’ve frozen tuition in partnership with the Legislature. Two, we’ve worked hard with the SDSU Foundation and raised a lot of dollars, which have over doubled scholarships the last couple of years.”
One Day for STATE, a 24-hour fundraising event, raised $2,757,790 last semester. Bold and Blue, a campaign for SDSU raised $604 million as of April of 2024, surpassing their goal of $500 million, set in 2017.
According to data from the Regents that was provided by Holbeck, South Dakota universities have significantly lower prices. Data provided by Holbeck indicated that surrounding states have increased tuition by 11.1% or more over the last five years, while South Dakota’s tuition increased only by 5.2%.
For the past several years, students attending the six Regents schools have been fortunate to receive a higher education while experiencing financial affordability, according to Holbeck.
After the conclusion of the legislature session in March and the Regent’s meeting in April, students should know if there will be a tuition increase for the next academic year.
Students’ Association Vice President Hayden Bentz said that no matter the outcome of the Legislature, the Students’ Association will work to keep the affordability of students’ education in the minds of decision-makers.
“Affordability was really the largest reason as to why I came to SDSU,” Bentz said. “Regardless of what happens, our tuition, compared to surrounding states and areas, will be extremely affordable.”
Onnika Dale, a sophomore psychology major from Hutchinson, Minnesota, said she doesn’t like talk of a tuition hike, “However, I understand why it may have to happen. SDSU is still significantly cheaper than other schools I had looked at attending.”
