UND officials outline $80.3 million operating gap, present tuition and ADA options

University of North Dakota President Andy Armacost and Vice President for Finance and Operations Carla Mongeon Stewart told the Appropriations — Education and Environment Division that UND faces $80,300,000 in known operational cost increases for the next biennium and presented several funding scenarios that would affect tuition.

The university identified the largest components of the total as salary and market equity, health insurance increases (15.23 percent), employer retirement contribution increases and rising property-and-liability insurance costs. “For all the increases that we just talked about, that cost for the University of North Dakota would be $80,300,000,” Carla Mongeon Stewart said during the hearing.

The administration presented three example funding options and their estimated impacts on UND tuition: (1) funding only salary/market equity would require a roughly 6.76 percent tuition increase at UND and 7.41 percent at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences; (2) adopting a 10 percent flat-rate increase recommended previously by Governor Burgum would reduce UND’s tuition need to about 5.96 percent and the medical school’s to about 4.9 percent; and (3) the North Dakota University System (NDUS) request (base funding plus personnel and a 2 percent inflation factor) produced an intermediate tuition pressure. Mongeon Stewart summarized the tradeoffs: the more the state provides in appropriations, the lower the tuition increase required.

Armacost framed the request in the context of enrollment gains and a historically high retention rate. “Our freshman class this year was 25 percent larger than last year’s freshman class,” Armacost said, and he reported a full-time first-year retention rate of 84 percent — the highest in North Dakota University System history. He added fall-to-spring retention is an estimated 94 percent to 95 percent pending official census numbers.

Mongeon Stewart also warned of a new, systemwide compliance expense tied to a Department of Justice rule on digital accessibility issued in April. She said institutions must make websites and learning-management content readable by assistive technologies by April 2026, and that UND is seeking one-time funding to audit and remediate existing course materials and other digital content. “We think it’s going to be a huge lift, especially in the beginning to just get all the content up to date,” she said, adding the solution may require consultants and temporary staff.

Committee members asked for clarifications about full‑time vs. part‑time retention and whether online and out‑of‑state tuition subsidize in‑state programs. Armacost said the 84 percent retention figure quoted for first‑year students applies to full‑time cohorts; he also emphasized the financial role that out‑of‑state online enrollments play in funding expanded online offerings for North Dakota students. Mongeon Stewart noted the general‑fund share of the $80.3 million is roughly 30 percent for UND; the remaining 70 percent would be covered by tuition, fees, grants and other local funds.

The university provided modelled dollar amounts and percentage impacts for committee review and said it will return for deeper budget hearings. Members signaled interest in further detail on the ADA compliance cost estimate, the formula changes for the medical school, and the balance of appropriations versus tuition.

Ending: UND officials said they will provide more granular data in subsequent hearings, including part‑time retention breakdowns and further modeling tied to the governor’s updated recommendations. The committee moved to the next agenda items after the presentation.