HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Frigid North Dakota Is a Hot Draw For Out-of-State College Students. Because the schools are good, and cheap.

As a high school senior from Connecticut, Diva Malinowski took a coast-to-coast tour of 10 public universities, bearing acceptance letters from each.

She fell in love in Fargo. “The minute I stepped onto campus, I knew that North Dakota State was for me,” says Ms. Malinowski, a 21-year-old senior who matriculated from Miss Porter’s School, a private academy for girls in Farmington, Conn. . . .

But college students are flocking here in ever greater numbers. Out-of-state students account for about 55% of the 14,500 enrolled at North Dakota State University, as well as at similarly sized University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Nonresident students at North Dakota’s 11 public colleges constitute a higher ratio than in almost every other state.

High school juniors and seniors scouring online college guides find North Dakota universities are inexpensive and well-regarded, with modest-sized classes typically taught by faculty members rather than adjuncts or graduate students.

Price competition seems to be on the rise. That’s good news for low-price (and oil-rich) North Dakota. Not so good for overpriced, underperforming schools elsewhere.