Doug Burgum said he has no interest in being a politician.

The GOP candidate for North Dakota governor spoke Tuesday at a meet and greet event hosted by the North Dakota State chapter of College Republicans. North Dakota’s gubernatorial election is just over eight months away, which has sent Burgum on the campaign trail to NDSU and elsewhere.

Burgum is an Arthur, N.D., native and longtime Fargo resident.

He is also a 1978 NDSU grad, having been a student senator and 1976-77 student body president.

After attending NDSU, Burgum went on to acquire an MBA from Stanford University, where he discovered computer software.

Burgum said he “literally bet the farm” on his tech startup, Great Plains Software, of which he was the chairman and CEO until he sold it to Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion. Today the Fargo campus is Microsoft’s second largest.

Throughout the event, Burgum referenced his belief that North Dakota needs someone to be governor who is a leader in business and a leader in technology, aspects that will drive the state forward.

Education

On the topic of the costs of higher education, Burgum said there are two elements of anything: cost and value.

“The price-value equation is shifting; people are paying more for college. It’s not as clear that the education is worth as much depending on what the degrees are. … We really want to be transparent about the value they’re getting as well as the cost,” Burgum said.

Burgum also said students are smart and can decide how much they would like to pay for what value, and education should be delivered at the best value possible.

Easily obtainable cheap college loans are also responsible for the rising costs of college education, Burgum said.

“Instead of creating a housing bubble, we’ve created a education bubble,” he said.

Economy

Burgum said the problem with taxes in North Dakota is there has been an “overdependence on a source of revenue that was tied to the oil industry.”

The state is in the midst of a budget shortfall, in part because of the oil boom’s collapse.

“Drilling activity goes down, sales tax goes down, income tax goes down as well as the oil tax,” Burgum said.

Burgum said every state is competing against every other state to attract and retain capital and talent.

“If we don’t have the right business climate which includes the tax climate, if we don’t have the right thing that allows us to be competitive … labor and capital are going to move other places. So I want to make sure we’ve got … a very competitive environment so that we can attract and retain the best businesses so that people will stay,” Burgum said.

Marijuana

In terms of legalizing marijuana, Burgum first brought up there has been a serious increase in crime and drug use in North Dakota due to the oil boom.

Marijuana, however, will not be a problem, he said.

“I don’t see marijuana being part of that issue,” he said.

Burgum also said there will either be one or two ballot votes on the subject in the coming fall, one that has currently passed for legalizing medicinal marijuana, and one that is being talked about for legalizing recreational marijuana.

“It’s probably where it should be, to go to the vote of the people … I’ll be watching that very closely,” Burgum said.

Relationship with NDSU

Burgum Hall was named after Jessamine Slaughter Burgum, Burgum’s grandmother and the first female student enrolled at North Dakota State, then North Dakota Agricultural College.

Burgum said when he was a senior and member of the cheer team, he convinced a fellow cheerleader who was a resident assistant in Burgum hall to let him sleep on her floor for the night, so he could say that he spent a night in the hall named after his grandmother.

His parents also went to and met at NDSU, and Burgum himself “could go to any school in the country as long as it was NDSU”.

Renaissance Hall, meanwhile, is owned by NDSU thanks to Doug Burgum.

In August of 2000, Burgum purchased the building then known as the Northern School Supply building to save it from demolition. He later donated the building to the NDSU Development Foundation in December of the same year.