Published: July 10, 2008 12:46 pm      

State Regents approve tuition increases

ADA — Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education recently approved increases to tuition and mandatory fees for Oklahoma’s 25 public colleges and universities. On average, a full-time Oklahoma college student will pay $302 more next year for tuition.

Higher education officials cited receiving legislative appropriations that were not sufficient to cover institutional operating costs.

“Even with the increases in tuition and fees, Oklahomans will still be paying less for a college education than their peers in other states,” Chancellor Glen D. Johnson said. “This increase will allow our institutions to continue providing a top quality education and outstanding service to our students.”

Tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students will increase an average of 9.1 percent statewide in FY09. East Central University, Ada, and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Durant, both increased tuition and mandatory fees 9.9 percent; Seminole State College made an increase of 9.8 percent; and Murray State College increased 8.6 percent.

The state’s research universities, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater and the University of Oklahoma, Norman, increased their tuition and mandatory fee rates by 9.9 percent.

Other state universities have tuition increases that range from 6.4 percent to 11.3 percent for in-state undergraduates.

Community colleges across the state have increased their in-state tuition rates from 4.9 percent to 9.9 percent.

Students in the state who are entering a four-year university for the first time this year will have the opportunity to take advantage of a guaranteed tuition rate. This means a student will lock in a tuition rate not exceeding 115 percent of the institution’s nonguaranteed resident tuition rate. The rate will be guaranteed for four years or the normal time to complete certain programs.

State law requires tuition to stay at levels below the average among comparable institutions, and Oklahoma’s public college and universities are well within those limits.

The law also requires the State Regents to make a reasonable effort to increase need-based financial aid across the state system proportionate to any increase in tuition.

Oklahoma’s Promise, a state scholarship program that allows high school students from families whose annual income is $50,000 or less to earn free college tuition, will receive $54 million. More than $36 million of the money appropriated by the Legislature for FY09 will go toward additional financial aid programs.