(Continued from page 21)

in the percentage of students leaving college with debt. According to the Project on Student Debt, 81 percent of South Dakota college students leave college with debt, which is much higher than the national average of 59 percent.
• Too, the study showed that the average debt for South Dakotan grads was $22,254.
• Meanwhile, nothing else is getting cheaper. Homes, taxes, gas, newspaper subscriptions -- everything people want to buy -- all cost more today than they did five and 10

years ago.
• The good news is that a few are trying. Former Gov. Mike Rounds and the Regents spent time promoting the Opportunity Scholarship, a $5,000 stipend available to qualifying students attending South Dakota public universities. It's a good program, but like all things, $5,000 doesn't go nearly as far as it did when the program first debuted. The Opportunity Scholarship needs to be increased to better reflect today's economy.
• Meanwhile, the Board of Regents needs to further press the issue of college costs. Hansen's comments about "dangerous territory" are a good place to start, but now he and the others need to fully acknowledge that a crisis looms.
•

• VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) -- The former Associated Press Chief of Bureau for North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska has been named communications direc

(Continued on page 23)