If current trends hold, there may be fewer freshmen traipsing across Oklahoma campuses in crimson and cream or (heaven forbid) orange and black next year.

Enrollment at the state’s community and regional colleges is up slightly, while the number of students at its universities has slipped. (See p. 1 for details).

This isn’t necessarily a negative trend.

Not everyone needs the kind of education (and expenses) that are on offer at four-year universities. For many people, regional colleges and vocational and technical schools are perfect fits for their personalities and their post-graduation plans.

But we’re wary of the possibility that, as they watch enrollment climb at smaller schools and shrink at the state’s universities, Oklahoma lawmakers will shift resources away from universities in favor of increasingly popular community colleges.

This would be shortsighted and ultimately counterproductive.

Although community and regional colleges do an excellent job of preparing students for the work force in a short amount of time, universities have their own set of important benefits for both students and the state.

University students may not get hands-on technical training, but they get instruction from world-class experts in their fields. They may not sit in classes that average fewer than 15 students, but they have the opportunity to interact with a diverse cross-section of people from across Oklahoma and around the country.

At their best, universities foster a sense of intellectual community. They nurture new ideas and encourage people to explore the world, whether by working in a biological research lab or studying abroad.

It would be wrong to shortchange this sort of academic experience because universities suffer a short-term dip in enrollment numbers.

It wouldn’t make financial sense, either. Educational studies have long shown that universities have a profound positive impact on their local economies.

OU generated an estimated 40,336 jobs in Oklahoma in 2007, either directly, on its three campuses, or indirectly through the presence of its students, faculty and visitors, according to the university’s most recent economic impact report. That adds up to $1.46 billion in wages for people living in Oklahoma.

The university’s students and visitors spent $329 million off-campus last year, and the university generated about $300 million in local, state and federal taxes.

Universities are good for their students and their state, and they deserve continued support from the lawmakers who appropriate state money.

They should consider it an investment in the future of its young people and its economic health.

And unlike recent investments in the stock market, the mortgage market or General Motors, this is an investment that is sure to yield a healthy return.