College tuition hikes under review

Daily PROGRESS News The Claremore Daily Progress Wed Sep 27, 2006, 03:43 PM CDT

State Rep. Tad Jones, a Claremore Republican who has requested a legislative study on higher education tuition rates, said lawmakers must ensure Oklahoma students are not priced out of an education.

Oklahoma University President David Boren told the House appropriations subcommittee on education Tuesday, that lawmakers should “really educate yourselves” about the unique needs of each state institution.

In an Associated Press story, Boren told legislators that Oklahoma already provides much less than several other states in its share of money provided to educate students.

Jones said he was glad to hear Oklahoma schools are “still the best bargain in the Big 12 and the region." But, Jones said lawmakers should continue to closely monitor tuition rates in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Legislature approved a bill this year that would have placed state lawmakers in full control of tuition decisions once again, but it was vetoed by the governor.

“While we want our universities to the best in the nation, we also want them to be affordable for all Oklahomans,” Jones said.

“We allowed the Regents to set tuition rates several years ago and it was time to review the issue and see how Oklahoma compares to other states,” said Jones, who chairs the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education. “We have to make sure schools are held accountable when they increase tuition so that they use the money to benefit Oklahoma students.”

Rogers State University President Joe Wiley, speaking at a recent Rotary meeting, said tuition at Rogers State University in 2002-2003 was $77.20 per credit hour. Today tuition is around $118 per credit hour.

Wiley said state funding for higher education is barely more than what was appropriated three years ago.

State and tuition fees provide $25.5 million to the budget. Only $14 million comes directly from the state.

Wiley said, “As the state reduced the level of support, the student had to pick up a greater share.”

At RSU, federal programs, auxiliary revenues provide another $60 million to fund programs, construction, infrastructure updates and upgrades.

“We used to say colleges and universities were state funded; we now say they are state-assisted,” Wiley said.

Prior to 2003, the Oklahoma Legislature had to approve tuition increases. Since that time, tuition-setting authority has been granted to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

In a press release from Jones, it is reported that the average annual tuition increase in Oklahoma was roughly 5.25 percent annually over the 11 years preceding the change in tuition-setting authority, according to figures provided by the Regents.

In the first year of deregulation, the average tuition rate increased jumped by 18.2 percent and then another 9.9 percent the following year.

However, a spokesperson for the Regents noted those increases occurred during a downturn that forced state lawmakers to slash state spending by hundreds of millions of dollars, including college funding cuts.

Now that the downturn is over, tuition increases have been reined in. This year's increase was only 5.2 percent, which is close to previous averages.

The cost for an Oklahoma resident to attend OU as a full-time student is currently just over $3,000 per year while it cost more than $3,200 per year to attend OSU.

According to the Regents, the average Oklahoma student pays $168 per credit hour in resident undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees at state research universities, $115 per credit hour at regional universities and almost $75 per credit hour at community colleges.

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