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The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education has approved a tuition increase for colleges and universities in the state, bringing the cost of college up an average $224 for the next academic year for full-time undergraduate students.
For some, tuition increases could be as high as $480
The increases average 4% and will range from zero to $480; that said, a year ago, the increases averaged $284, or 5.3%.
In addition, the state is providing an additional $7.5 million to pay for concurrent enrollment tuition waivers for high school seniors statewide; senior high school students in the state will be able to take up to six hours of college credit per semester tuition-free, with colleges having to cover costs not funded by the state.
For some schools, such as the University of Central Oklahoma, the tuition increases will cover tuition waivers for students, although the state has also seen a dwindling number of tuition waivers in recent years due to cuts in state funding.
Four schools will not see tuition increases
According to News Ok, Southeastern Oklahoma State University President Sean Burrage, whose school is one of four institutions in the state not to increase tuitions, discussed how this could be a deterrent to students in the following statement:
“We’re trying to hold the cost down. We serve probably the poorest part of the state.”
“Each year we have more and more students who aren’t re-enrolling because of financial holds on their accounts.”
According to Burrage, the school can afford to keep costs flats due to seeing an increase in online graduate enrollment; the three other schools not increasing prices in the state are the University of Oklahoma, Eastern Oklahoma State College and Murray State College.
Incoming University of Oklahoma President Jim Gallogly added that it will be hard for schools to keep tuition down:
“That’s a very, very difficult thing to do…It’s going to be difficult to balance our budget.”
