BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota lawmakers and higher education leaders are beginning to chart a path for how to respond to neighboring Minnesota’s upcoming program that will offer income-based free tuition to thousands of students.

Higher education leaders on Wednesday detailed the situation to an interim legislative panel. A state senator also presented a bill draft proposing a North Dakota program similar to Minnesota’s North Star Promise.

North Star Promise takes effect in fall 2024. It will cover undergraduate tuition and fees at the state’s public post-secondary schools for Minnesota residents whose family income is under $80,000, after they have used other sources of financial aid.

North Dakota higher education leaders are worried about losing Minnesota students. About 1,400 of them at five eastern North Dakota schools could be eligible for North Star Promise. Minnesotans make up nearly half the student body at North Dakota State University in Fargo, the No. 1 out-of-state choice for first-year Minnesota students.

Legislative staff and higher education officials will work on potential options in response to North Star Promise, said Republican state Rep. Mark Sanford, who chairs the Legislature’s interim Higher Education Committee.

Tuition cost is “certainly not the only element” Minnesota students consider in where to go to college, he said. Quality and availability of programs “are important parts of this, too,” Sanford said Thursday.

Admissions offices already are recruiting 2024 and 2025 high school graduates.

Marketing “the overall quality” of North Dakota programs to Minnesotans will be key, said North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott. He said he’s confident current Minnesota students will stick with North Dakota.