The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will have a public hearing at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Oklahoma City to discuss raising tuition.

The hearing will focus on how much tuition should be raised if State Bill 596 is passed by the legislature, said Harve Allen, regents' press secretary.

The bill would transfer the authority to set tuition rates from the legislature to the State Regents for a five-year trial period, he said.

The public hearing will be held in the State Regents Conference Room in the Education Building of the State Capitol Complex. It is required by law and by regents' policy to have a public hearing for an action like this, Allen said.

The bill, if passed, would allow the State Regents to raise tuition up to 7 percent a year for residents and 9 percent a year for non-residents, he said.

It also would allow the regents to raise resident tuition for professional programs up to 10 percent and up to15 percent for non-resident tuition.

Allen said he did not know how much the regents would raise tuition. They want input from citizens before they decide anything, he said.

But, he did say higher education in Oklahoma is "chronically underfunded."

State schools are funded 30 to 35 percent below the national average in state appropriations and tuition payments, he said.

In a statement, OU President David Boren said it makes it harder for OU to compete when its tuition is the lowest in the Big 12 Conference. OU's tuition is 30 percent below the Big 12 average, he said.

OU is especially behind in the tuition it charges out-of-state students, he said.

"The increases for out-of-state tuition are more than fair since we are $3,500 per year below the Big 12 average on out-of-state tuition," he said. "It is not fair for Oklahoma taxpayers to pay such a large subsidy for those from out-of-state."


Visit the Oklahoma Higher Education Web site www.okhighered.org.
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