For most Oklahoma college students, tuition and fees won’t rise next year, and for those that do see an increase, it will only be by an average of 1.4 percent.
The news comes after the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education voted to approve each school’s request for tuition and fee rates in a Zoom meeting Wednesday. One-by-one, the state’s college and university presidents talked about the difficult budget situation they face because of COVID-19.
Oklahoma City Community College President Jerry Steward said it was tempting to raise tuition and fees because revenue from tuition would be helpful in balancing budgets.
"We need the funding," Steward said. "But we’re more concerned about our students, particularly in this year with the loss of jobs and all the other problems associated with COVID-19."
Colleges and universities will have to find ways to cut their budgets in the upcoming year because of a drop in state funding of $30 million. But it appears that the burden of that loss in state funding won’t all be made up by students and their families.
