OKLAHOMA CITY
Student leaders say they’ve come to expect tuition increases every year, but concern is growing among some lawmakers and educators about pricing working-class kids out of a college education.
Some student leaders seemed to take in stride the vote by the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education last week to raise tuition rates and mandatory fees for resident students by an average of 8.6 percent.
It was the fifth year in a row that tuition had been raised since the Legislature, which used to set college rates, turned that sole authority over to the state regents.
The tuition and fee increases were 10 percent or more at two schools and 9 percent or more at nine others, including the state’s two comprehensive universities the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
Next year, the cost for 30 credit hours will be $14,915 at OSU and $14,721 at OU.
Jordon McGee of Edmond, chairman of the University of Oklahoma Student Association Student Congress, said OU President David Boren had done a good job of explaining the need for the increases.
