Each year, the state must cut the pie to fund its public universities and their various projects. From teacher workforce to quantum computing, the Board of Regents say this year’s requests aim to keep the state looking forward.
After the dust settled following the June Regents funding request meeting, the board was left with a clear top priority of keeping South Dakota universities affordable and accessible for students.
That target informed their top objective – another year of frozen tuition rates. Regents’ executive director Nathan Lukkes explained the weight of locking that price.
“That request was a little over $4.3 million in base funding," Lukkes said. "There’s a lot of competition in the market, so it’s critical that we continue to keep our focus on that and make sure that our price point is as low as possible so we can attract and retain as many students as possible to our state.”
That leads into another key consideration – South Dakota’s workforce needs.
“At the end of the day there’s only so much money to go around, so the board really took a hard look at what are the critical needs and critical areas from a strategic standpoint to really push forward and set up the system up for success in the decades to come," Lukkes said. "Preparing the future workforce remains at the forefront of the board’s decision making.”
With that in mind were requests for a $6 million state center for Quantum Information, Science and Technology to be housed at Dakota State, and funding for teaching pathway programs.
But there are cracks in the foundation to fill – notably Black Hills State operating at three-quarters of what administration deems an ideal budget. In June, BH president Laurie Nichols requested a $3 million one-time infusion as the school’s top priority. Lukkes said the board recognizes the need – but stopped short of the full total.
“The request you saw coming out of BH was really to try to help close that gap – it’s certainly not the solution – but focusing in on some targeted areas to close that gap culminated in a request of $926,000 and change that was pushed forward as one of the boards priorities," Lukkes said. "That would help BH to reinvest or focus on some strategic areas.”
The fate of these requests for fiscal year 2025 will ultimately rest with the legislature.
