Montana colleges push hard for out-of-state students

Nonresident students have become the golden goose to the Montana university system, and officials are doing all they can to bring out-of-state students, and their tuition dollars, into the state.

Out-of-state students pay 130 percent of the cost of attendance, effectively subsidizing tuition for resident Montanans, said Geoffrey Gamble, president of Montana State University-Bozeman.

That’s why Gamble has begun recruiting out-of-state students from New England and the Southeast, and it’s also why the University of Montana is developing a new, individualized recruitment process to attract ideal candidates to the Missoula campus.

"This is the critical element for us from a revenue standpoint over the next decade," said Bill Muse, UM’s executive director of planning, budgeting and analysis.

By ALLISON FARRELL
Lee News Service

Full Story: http://www.casperstartribune.net/news/regional/b5b687266abdffa587257023007558c1.txt

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Montana Institutions of Higher Education

Carroll College http://www.carroll.edu/

U of M College of Technology http://www.cte.umt.edu/

University of Montana http://www.umt.edu/

Montana State University http://www.montana.edu/leadership/

Rocky Mountain College http://www.rocky.edu

Salish Kootenai College http://www.skc.edu/

Blackfeet Community College http://www.montana.edu/wwwbcc/

Chief Dull Knife College http://www.cdkc.edu/

Dawson Community College http://www.dawson.cc.mt.us/

Flathead Valley Community College http://www.fvcc.edu/

Helena College of Technology http://www.hct.umontana.edu/

Miles Community College http://www.milescc.edu/

Billings College of Technology http://www.cot.msubillings.edu/

Montana Tech http://www.mtech.edu/

Stone Child College http://www.montana.edu/wwwscc/

U of M-Western http://www.umwestern.edu/

MSU Northern http://www.msun.edu

University of Great Falls http://www.ugf.ed

MSU Billings http://www.msubillings.edu

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Gazette opinion: Beware reliance on out-of-staters

For years, Montanans have fretted over exporting college graduates. It turns out that importing college students is a big concern for Montana’s universities. As the public University System has become more dependent on students to pay a larger share of expenses, the universities have actively recruited students who are better able to pay those rising costs.

In a Sunday report, the Gazette State Bureau talked with leaders of the University of Montana at Missoula and Montana State University at Bozeman about their recruiting of out-of-state students. Students from outside Montana pay 130 percent of the cost of attending college here, MSU President Geoffry Gamble told reporter Allison Farrell.

With the state Legislature funding about half of the University System budget, the other half has to be raised primarily from students. Resident students pay about 40 percent of the cost of their education (although their tuition keeps going up). The difference between state support and what resident students pay has to be made up somehow.

It’s fair to expect out-of-state students to pay something above cost for the privilege of attending college in the Big Sky state. Think of it as a temporary user fee for those who aren’t year-round Montana taxpayers.

Getting a budget boost from out-of-staters is OK, up to a point. But it must not detract from the universities’ purpose or be considered their long-term fiscal salvation. The purpose of the University System it to provide higher education to Montanans and to meet the needs for an educated Montana workforce. If nonresident costs here rise to about the national market, those college students will go elsewhere.

Furthermore, the gold mine of nonresident students isn’t as rich for campuses that are farther from mountains and ski areas. At Montana State University-Billings, for example, only 357 nonresidents were enrolled last fall. The Bozeman and Missoula campuses each had about 10 times that many nonresident students.

Recruiting out-of-state students may be an economic necessity for the two largest campuses, but the practice must be kept in perspective. The nonresident student market isn’t the purpose of the Montana University System and it’s not the long-term solution to financing this state’s higher education.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/06/21/build/opinion/30-gaz-op.inc