DES MOINES Iowa
Earlier this week, seniors at Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs got a letter explaining that starting next fall, they can get half-price tuition at the University of Nebraska at Omaha just 13 miles and one state border away.
UNO’s new Metropolitan Advantage plan is designed to lure students from Pottawattamie, Mills and Harrison counties across the border from Iowa. Under the plan, students from those counties would pay about the same amount to attend UNO as they would pay for in-state tuition at one of Iowa’s public universities.
The short commute to the campus west of downtown Omaha could also allow some Iowans to save between $6,000 and $7,200 annually by not having to pay for room and board.
“I debated between Iowa and Iowa State, but I figured why not save a little money and stay at home,” said Josh Kuhl, 19, a UNO sophomore studying business who lives in Carter Lake.
Cross-border recruiting is becoming more popular for colleges in many states where younger populations are expected to decline.
Out-of-state students, who often pay higher tuition, fill seats in college classrooms and help round out budgets that don’t always get full funding from taxes.
