OKLAHOMA CITY -- OU's Norman campus, OU-Tulsa and OU Health Sciences Center will get almost a quarter of the more than $1 billion state higher education budget approved Friday by the state regents.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved a fiscal 2007 appropriation for OU of almost $243 million, which represents a 13.6 percent increase from the current fiscal year.

"This is a great moment for Oklahoma," regents member Stuart Price said after the board unanimously approved the state's first ever higher education to surpass the $1 billion mark.

Price joined Paul G. Risser, state higher education chancellor, in praising Oklahoma legislators for reaching a budget compromise that allows an overall 14.6 percent hike in funding for post-high school education.

The university's Norman campus is slated to receive $136.3 million, including almost $3.2 million for the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, $1.6 million for the statewide MESONET meteorology data system, and $128.2 million in general funding.

The state regents had earlier requested $123 general funding. OU President David L. Boren said May 1 that if the state met the state regents' request of $123 million, tuition would increase by $244 per student per year, the lowest increase in about 10 years. The estimate is for students averaging 30 hours per academic year.

Catherine Bishop, OU vice president for Public Affairs, said OU would not be releasing a statement regarding the appropriations today.

Another $6 million is slated to go to the OU law school, which is budgeted separately.

The OU Board of Regents will meet Monday to create a more specific budget for the university, and to set rates for tuition and fees.

Maryanne Malete, vice chancellor for budget and finance, requested the state regents set a hearing for fee increases at five Oklahoma schools. OU was not among them.

In her report to the regents, Malete said the legislature had put an additional $85 million into the state's higher education funding formula.

"The rationale behind that is to keep tuition as low as possible," Malete said.

Another $8.5 million is earmarked for fast-growing institutions that have been underfunded in the past, such as Northeastern Oklahoma State University's branch campus at Broken Arrow.

A $4.6 million statewide initiative to support training in allied health fields will go mostly to the OU Health Sciences Center and the OU Tulsa branch campus, while another $1.4 million initiative which will also benefit the OU Tulsa campus.

The total appropriation for HSC is $91.8 million, which is a more than 16 percent increase from the current fiscal year.

OU Tulsa's total appropriation is $8.7 million, and is 16.5 percent more than the amount for fiscal 2006.

The state's other comprehensive research university, Oklahoma State University, will get $22.9 million more next year than it did in fiscal 2006. OSU's total appropriation is $241 million, a 10.5 percent increase over the current fiscal year,

The University of Central Oklahoma, the state's third-largest higher educational institution, is slated to get $53.8 million in fiscal 2007. That's an increase of 18.6 percent over the current year.

Several of the smaller, regional colleges and universities got substantial increases from the regents.

Oklahoma City Community College's $24.9 million appropriation is 30.8 percent bigger than its fiscal 2006 funding amount, while Redlands Community College will see a 27 percent bigger appropriation of $5.4 million.

In addition to setting appropriations, the regents also heard a request from the Oklahoma National Guard to make two changes to its tuition assistance program.

One would allow any Oklahoma National Guard member to attend school at the in-state tuition rate, regardless of where they are from.

The other would lift the requirement that National Guard members complete their degree programs within six years in order to qualify for the tuition assistance program.

"Given the deployments, that's really not possible in today's environment," Malete said.

Each of the state's 15 subordinate higher education governing boards, including the OU Regents, will meet next week to develop their budgets. The state regents are scheduled to meet again at 8 a.m. Thursday, and will review the figures from each of the other boards.

The state regents also placed the National Guard's policy changes on their agenda for that meeting.

--+Stacy Swan contributed to this report.
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