Let’s Keep Them Here

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Let’s Keep Them Here 

(BISMARCK, ND) – Recent data suggests, North Dakota is one of the few states that is “growing younger.”  Since 2000, North Dakota has gone from the 50th oldest state to the fourth youngest. In order to keep this trend going, North Dakota needs to do a better job supporting higher education. However, during the past legislative session, Republican legislators refused to pass legislation that would improve the state’s college and university system.

Supporting students taking college-level classes by paying for them through their ND Scholarships are among this type of common-sense legislation Dem-NPL legislators sponsored this session. Twenty states currently offer a financial incentive to support AP course offerings. The North Dakota version, introduced by Representative Alisa Mitskog, would have required students to maintain a 2.75 GPA with the ultimate goal of reducing the amount of time and money they would have to spend at a university. This measure passed in the House but was killed by Senate Republicans.

To address the workforce shortage Representative Matt Eidson introduced HB 1389, which would have created an aeronautics student scholarship for veterans to support veterans studying aeronautics/UAS, and their families here in North Dakota. This measure failed in the House. 

These are just two examples of seemingly common-sense legislation that would have been beneficial to keeping young people here in North Dakota. Maybe Republicans, simply do not want to recruit and retain young people in North Dakota.

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