Keeping Technical Colleges Affordable

By Mitchell Now August 19, 2024 11:10 am

MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) The South Dakota Board of Technical Education (SDBOTE) approved three new performance indicators:

Attainment: Increasing the number of South Dakotans who attain high-quality postsecondary credentials by producing 3,001 credential completers per year by 2030.

Affordability: Ensuring that technical education in South Dakota is affordable and offers a positive return on investment by maintaining a 5.0 or lower cost to earnings premium for every associate of applied science program in the system by 2030.

Alignment: Preparing learners and graduates for meaningful employment and continued education opportunities by increasing the year five in-state placement rate to 75% by 2030.

The technical college system produced an average of 2,440 graduates each year between 2019 and 2023 and is projected to produce as many as 2,760 graduates each year by 2030, according to an appendix presented to the board.

The SDBOTE has implemented a tuition and fee freeze in the 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, but will need to consider an increase to the state tuition rate in the academic year 2025-2026 to keep the salary policy in line with inflation.

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