For the Record: Regent Darrin Rosha on University of Minnesota Non-Resident Tuition

The almost completely irrational cut-rate price of a University of Minnesota education to non-residents has been commented on many times before in the Periodic Table and on the Star-Tribune.

For example:

DECEMBER 30, 2012

For years, Bill Gleason, an associate professor at the U, has been arguing that the strategy causes the university to miss out on tens of millions in revenue each year -- "and that's not chump change."

 "I think it's fair to say the University of Minnesota should be charging at least the average delta in the Big Ten," Gleason said. "Why are we giving this away?"

For further background:

University of Minnesota Has Lowest Out of State Tuition for BigTen Publics
Appeared in the Star-Tribune: October 30, 2010

State Rep Blows Whistle on Out of State Tuition Give Away

On Maximizing Tuition Revenue at the University of Minnesota

And if you are really curious about the reasoning that went into the original tuition giveaway plan, please see:

What's It Going To Be at the University of Minnesota, a Medallion or a Yugo?

"Out of state (non-reciprocity) tuition is to be set at $2000 per semester higher than in state tuition. This is a cut of about $8000 per year. It will be interesting to see how much traffic this generates from out of state students. Needless to say the new rate is significantly less than out of state tuition at so-called medallion schools that the U would like to emulate."

Finally, a University of Minnesota Regent wrote in the Star-Tribune on December 24, 2015:

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TUITION

When to make it affordable and when to leave it to the market

The recent editorial “Don’t weaken U’s role in drawing talent” (Dec. 22) calls for facts to illuminate the University of Minnesota nonresident tuition discussion. I agree.

The Minnesota Territorial Constitution established the U to educate “the inhabitants of this Territory.” Minnesota residents are roughly twice as likely as nonresidents to stay in Minnesota after graduation. Minnesota’s growing population produces graduates with the highest ACT scores in the nation. The Minnesota Legislature supports the university better than virtually all our peers, yet the U’s resident tuition is among the highest in the Big Ten. Nonresident tuition is the lowest.

Tuition for Minnesota residents should be based on affordable access for rural, urban and suburban residents. Tuition for nonresidents should be market-based. If our university is equal to or better than the University of Michigan, its nonresident tuition should be doubled to the Michigan rate. As Michigan and our other peers increased their nonresident tuition, their nonresident numbers and quality actually increased.

Both DFL and Republican legislators want their constituents to have affordable access to the university. Minnesota’s business community wants a quality workforce. We all want a world-class flagship university. Aligning the university’s nonresident tuition with its peers serves all three purposes.

Darrin Rosha, Independence

The writer is a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.