• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A plan to freeze tuition and fees for South Dakota residents attending state-run universities is good news for students who have struggled to stay in school as costs have risen in recent years, according to the leader of a student organization.
• "Seeing this sort of thing happen in South Dakota is absolutely major. It's phenomenal, knowing that our voices as students are being heard," said DJ Smith, a University of South Dakota student who is executive director of the university system's Student Federation.
• Gov. Dennis Daugaard recently included the tuition freeze in his state budget proposal for the year that begins next July, saying South Dakota must hold down costs to keep college affordable. He has proposed giving the university system $4 million in state funds so tuition and fees can be frozen next year, a move identified as the top priority by the state Board of Regents, which runs the state's six public universities. The state would spend another $915,000 to hold down tuition at the four technical institutes.
• State lawmakers will have the final say on the tuition freeze when they pass the next state budget in the legislative session that opens Jan. 14.
• Smith, a senior at USD, said he knows students who have had to drop out because they didn't have enough money to pay for college, so a freeze on costs will be welcome.
• "I think it will open up the opportunity for more people who are living in South Dakota to embrace higher education," Smith said.
• Jack Warner, executive director of the Board of Regents, said the proposal would freeze tuition and fees for all in-state undergraduate and graduate students who attend classes on one of the six university campuses. It would not apply to classes taken off-campus, such as those at Capital University Center in Pierre, the University Center in Rapid City and the University Center in Sioux Falls.
• The regents sought the freeze to help make college affordable, particularly for students from lower income families, Warner said. South Dakota's resident tuition and fees have been rising faster than those in many neighboring states, he said.
• Resident undergraduate tuition at South Dakota's public universities used to rank

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