Committee reviews University System Office budget proposal, flags scholarships, IT and workforce grants

The Appropriations - Education and Environment Division on an Appropriations committee docket reviewed the University System Office budget (budget item 215), discussing multiple ongoing and one‑time line items including dual‑credit scholarships, student financial aid systems, IT infrastructure and new workforce grants.

Committee members discussed the removal of ongoing funding for dual‑credit scholarships and the inclusion of a $1.5 million one‑time allocation from Bank of North Dakota profits for the program. Brenda Zastopol of the system office explained how the scholarship is awarded: "the dual credit tuition scholarship is awarded post high school graduate graduation to students who took dual credit from an institution within North Dakota. The course must have been successfully passed... And the award is for $250 for 1 pass course, $500 for 2, and a maximum of $750 for 3 or more." The committee noted that the amount mirrors last biennium’s level.

The committee also discussed a transfer of the childcare assistance program from the Office of Management and Budget to the University System Office. David Kresbach, speaking for the system office, said the transfer was requested because the OMB payroll and higher‑education payroll systems differ and moving the program would make administration "easier for them to manage." Members clarified that the transfer covers only the system office’s share of the employee childcare assistance (roughly $300 from DHHS and $300 from OMB for a $600 benefit for eligible state employees) and is not a new program.

On student aid and IT, the panel approved base funding to continue a new student financial aid system (the second year of funding), with additional one‑time implementation costs and software licensing. Kresbach said the licensing package will help ensure federal compliance by verifying that federal aid is administered only to degree‑seeking students. The committee discussed a $1 million IT infrastructure allocation that the Senate added; the system office described that request as part of a larger $2.6 million plan to update network, compute, storage and classroom hybrid‑teaching systems across institutions.

Chancellor Hagerott and committee members discussed the Dakota Digital Academy (DDA), which the Senate funded at $450,000. The chancellor described DDA as a statewide effort to "share talent across the whole state where any one campus doesn't have all the talent it needs," and said DDA grants and faculty development funds were quickly subscribed when offered. Members asked how DDA differs from existing regional IT consortia; the chancellor said existing consortia may still apply for DDA grants and the DDA expands participation to the whole system, including research and four‑year institutions.

Other items reviewed included: an added $1.1 million from SIF for the Nursing Education Consortium to support simulation equipment across roughly 13 nursing programs; a projected $1.5 million shortfall in the Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) that the system office expects to cover to maintain slots; and a Senate proposal of $12 million in SIF funding to implement workforce education innovation grants, a statutory program that has existed without funding.

Committee members requested additional documentation on several lines and asked the system office to provide campus reserve balances and other details at a later date. The committee scheduled additional work on related bills and programs, including a proposed supplemental state grant and the Career Builders program, for the following day.

No formal vote on the budget package was recorded in the transcript excerpt reviewed by the committee during this session.