With parents in tow, Wisconsin high school students Nina Littman (front left), Sam Reinders and Mandy Fabry (front right) leave a residence hall while on a campus tour at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The two states have a tuition reciprocity agreement. Credit: Mark Hoffman

SHARE Click image to enlarge.

By of the

Minneapolis - Nina Littman, a high school senior from Madison, has narrowed her college search to two finalists: the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a Big Ten flagship.

Not the flagship in her hometown.

It's the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, which battles the Badgers each fall on the gridiron for Paul Bunyan's Axe.

"I love the big, friendly atmosphere there and think that I would fit in great," Littman said after a chilly, late fall tour of the university's Twin Cities campus, where she already has been accepted if she decides she wants to be a Gopher.

Littman is among thousands of Wisconsin high school seniors applying this fall to state universities and colleges in Minnesota, where they can pay resident tuition under a decades-old tuition reciprocity agreement. The Twin Cities main campus, which attracts the most Wisconsin residents, eagerly rolls out the Badger red carpet with a Gopher waiting at the other end to welcome them.

With birthrates shrinking the pool of prospective students for both states the next several years, the tuition reciprocity agreement is stoking the cross-border rivalry for the best and brightest.

Despite tight budgets for public higher education, university leaders say the agreement that allows Wisconsin and Minnesota students to attend public universities, colleges and technical schools in either state and pay resident tuition is unlikely to change because it's mutually beneficial.

"We have no indication it's going away any time soon. We get that question a lot," UM-Twin Cities admissions counselor and West Allis native Steve Baker assured the Wisconsin students and parents on the same tour as Littman.

The stakes are highest for UW campuses closest to the Wisconsin-Minnesota border, including UW-River Falls and UW-Superior, which depend the most on Minnesota students to boost their enrollments.

Nearly half the total enrollment at UW-River Falls (2,953 of 6,068 students) and UW-Superior (912 of 2,321 students) came from Minnesota in the 2011-'12 academic year.

"In the northwest part of the state, more of the Twin Cities megaplex bleeding into Wisconsin will capture more students," UW System President Kevin Reilly said.

In 2011-'12, about 10,500 Wisconsin students attended public universities and technical colleges in Minnesota, while about 14,500 Minnesota students enrolled in Wisconsin's state schools under the Minnesota-Wisconsin Interstate Tuition Reciprocity Agreement.

The numbers have grown since the agreement started in 1965. But Minnesota consistently has sent 3,000 to 4,000 more students to Wisconsin than Wisconsin has sent to Minnesota.

Roughly half the Wisconsin students crossing the border attend the Twin Cities campus.

"Some of our students who really want to go to Madison and don't get admitted can get into Twin Cities," Reilly said.

A small number of those students later transfer to UW-Madison. This fall, 76 of Madison's 982 transfer students came from Minnesota.

Many Wisconsin high school seniors considering UM-Twin Cities are seeking both a Big Ten and a big city experience, or they want a fresh start away from classmates who flock to their home state Big Ten school, UW-Madison. They may be attracted to a certain program, or by the promise of freshman admission to a particular college so they can immediately begin taking classes in their major - something UW-Madison doesn't allow until sophomore year.

UM-Twin Cities also heavily markets a four-year graduation guarantee, but its four-year graduation rate actually is lower than Madison's. For the entering class of 2005 - the most recent data available - 53% of those enrolled at Madison graduated in four years, while 47% at UM-Twin Cities graduated in four years.

Gopher sales pitch

UM student tour guide Karen Korslund points out to the prospective students from Wisconsin in Littman's tour group that a new light rail system connecting the UM campus with downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul will be up and running by 2014.

Eighty percent of the campus also is connected by underground tunnels and skywalks, particularly advantageous for escaping the deep freeze of a Minnesota winter, Korslund notes.

In each building where the tour group stops, the visitors hear about the perks of being a Golden Gopher. Computer labs with both Macs and PCs. Individual heat controls in dorm rooms. Stargazing when the Observation Hall dome is opened on Friday nights.

They learn during the information session in the admissions office about several noteworthy Gopher inventions. The black box. The pacemaker. The Honeycrisp apple.

At one time, Wisconsin residents crossing the border got an especially sweet deal, paying their less expensive home state tuition. Students from Minnesota were paying as much as $2,200 more than Wisconsin residents to attend their Minnesota flagship.

The agreement eventually was changed so students paid whichever resident tuition was higher for the comparable schools. Resident tuition at UM-Twin Cities still is higher than at UW-Madison, so Wisconsin residents attending UM-Twin Cities pay the higher Minnesota rate. Minnesota kids who go to UW-Madison pay the same tuition they'd pay at UM-Twin Cities, even though it's higher than Wisconsin residents pay to attend the same school.

Neither state may profit from the reciprocity agreement at the expense of the other. So the two states settle up at the end of each fiscal year, using a formula that subtracts total educational costs for reciprocity students from total tuition paid by the students.

The State of Wisconsin for years paid the difference for Wisconsin students to attend the more expensive Minnesota public institutions.

But starting this fall, Wisconsin students in Minnesota must pay full freight .

Gov. Scott Walker had called for fully funding reciprocity, including the supplemental tuition payment, but the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee eliminated the supplement last year under pressure to make budget cuts, saving the state an estimated $2.6 million over the 2012-'13 biennium and more in subsequent years, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Wisconsin students enrolled at UM-Twin Cities as of 2008-'09 still may receive the Wisconsin tuition supplement for up to four years if they're continuously enrolled there.

Competing for students

The Minnesota and Wisconsin flagships compete the most for students majoring in business, engineering, nursing, pharmacy and natural sciences, UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca said.

"Those well-qualified kids who want a big-city experience are inclined to think about Minnesota," he said. "We could aggressively go for them and crank it up, but we're already pretty well saturated. It's very hard for us to go beyond 29,000 students on our campus."

That's not to say UW-Madison doesn't recruit from Minnesota's top high schools.

About 11% of Madison's enrollment (3,248 students) came from Minnesota in the 2011-'12 academic year - many from high-achieving suburban Twin Cities schools, DeLuca said.

With declining birthrates reducing the pool of prospective students, recruitment in both Minnesota and Wisconsin is becoming more intentional, said Rachelle Hernandez, director of admissions at UM-Twin Cities.

Admissions counselors for years have spent four weeks in the spring, and four to five weeks each fall, doing high school visits and college fairs in Wisconsin, she said.

"We really focus on maintaining the level of enrollment we have," she said. "We're targeting students who are prepared to be successful here."

Either state could unilaterally cancel the tuition reciprocity agreement, but only with four years' notice to give currently enrolled students time to finish their degrees, said John Reinemann, executive secretary for the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board, which administers the reciprocity agreement.

"I think tuition reciprocity has served both states well, and I hope we can continue to do it," said Reilly, the UW System president. "It really does provide excellent opportunities for our students."

Wisconsin students and parents on the recent UW-Twin Cities tour would agree.

Sam Reinders, a senior at Slinger High School, wants to be an archivist in a museum and is considering attending UW-La Crosse, UW-Madison or UM-Twin Cities.

Distance from home is a consideration, though a minor one.

"I'd like to be far enough that I couldn't go home on weekends, but close enough for holidays," Reinders said.

Reinders' mom, Karen, said she wants her daughter to pick the college that's the right fit for her.

"I don't want her to go with cost as the determining factor if it's a small difference."

For Littman, the senior from Madison, the Twin Cities campus tour helped shape her preference for Minnesota over several Wisconsin schools, including UW-Madison.

"My first impressions of these schools definitely have changed the way I feel about them," she said. "I think it's really important to visit a campus before making a decision."

Mandy Fabry of De Pere agreed after her tour of UM-Twin Cities. She hasn't decided whether she'll study occupational therapy in Wisconsin or Minnesota, but UM is an affordable option, thanks to reciprocity.

For Fabry, like other Wisconsin kids considering Minnesota, the decision may come down to location, location, location.

"The biggest attraction of UM to me is the location," she said. "It feels smaller than what it is, but still offers all the advantages of a big city."

Reciprocity program

Participation in the tuition reciprocity program is not automatic. While all Wisconsin residents are eligible, they must complete an application form and send it to the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board. The application for the 2013-2014 academic year is available at www.heab.wi.gov.