Bismarck Tribune

By TONY SPILDEBy TONY SPILDE

It may look like alphabet soup, but the ROI at UTTC does more to whet the appetites of school officials than anything Campbell's could offer.

United Tribes Technical College recently released a report that shows taxpayers exactly what they get for their money. Administrators at the college want to use the findings as another tool to show the school's value.

According to the report, the 114 graduates from the United Tribes class of 2005 will earn a projected total of $175.5 million during the course of their careers. If they had remained as unskilled laborers, they would have earned $53 million, but also cost the country $27 million in federal assistance.

The difference is a net benefit of $149.5 million, or a 20-to-1 return on investment.

That is a number the school can show the Bush administration as it fights for funding, said Shirley Bordeaux, dean of finance at UTTC. Federal funding for United Tribes' general operating budget has been "zeroed out" of the president's budget proposal each of the last four years, only to be reinstated after being championed by members of the North Dakota and Montana congressional delegations.

"We wanted to try to find some way to get our message across," Bordeaux said. "One of the ways the private sector does it is looking at return on investment. The nation gets a tremendous return for the amount of money they put in (to United Tribes)."

The operating budget at UTTC for 2005 was $7.55 million. The students who graduated in May will pay a projected total of $22.4 million in federal taxes during the course of their lives, according to the report.

Bordeaux developed the idea for the report and worked on it with Tom Katus, a consultant from Rapid City, S.D., and a former resident of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

"In my judgment, this study is quite unique," Katus said. "Other colleges haven't focused on return on investment."

The preparers of the report used data from the UTTC registrar's office, the finance office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service and the U.S. Department of Labor.

(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@;bismarcktribune.com)