Officials with South Dakota's universities are at the state capital Wednesday, to let lawmakers know about their goals for the future. They made presentations before the Joint Appropriations committee. The colleges heard about student quality and growth.
South Dakota State, Northern State, and Black Hills State are just a few of the schools speaking before lawmakers who are the ones ultimately responsible for making sure students have the tools they need to survive. SDSU President David Chicoine explains the financial importance of South Dakota State.
"Our University accounts for $830 million of the gross state product of this state and we directly account for 6180 jobs," Chicoine says.
Chicoine also gives board members its goals for growth.
"Our goal is to have 2200-2300 first time, full time freshman and to have a retention rate of over 80 percent. And in the fall of 2013 we had 2365 first time, full time freshman," Chicoine says.
Each school gets roughly 45 minutes to present its status, achievements and goals to the Appropriations committee. Lawmakers plan to take this information and apply it towards any funding requests.
