Boren to ask for student input about tuition raise
Published: May 4, 2010
OU President David Boren will host a forum Wednesday afternoon to hear students’ thoughts on a potential tuition spike.
The discussion will focus on OU’s budget and possible scenarios related to tuition and fees for the next school year.
The forum will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. in Beaird Lounge of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Universities nationwide have planned tuition increases, and students have taken part in large protests, but there has been no word yet on what will happen at OU’s campuses.
At the University of Texas, a 5.4-percent hike in tuition and fees was approved by regents in March, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
The Oklahoma Legislature cut the state’s higher education budget by 3.5 percent in February to compensate for a revenue shortfall, according to NewsOK.com.
Boren said he will try to keep tuition and fee increases to a minimum as the budget for the next year is being determined.
In February, Boren said he expected more cuts from lawmakers.
“Looking forward, it appears that the budget agreement will require additional cuts in our budget of 5 to 10 percent for the budget year that begins on July 1, 2010,” Boren said. “We are hoping to keep tuition and fee adjustments as low as possible for next year, and holding budget cuts to the lower end of that spectrum would be very helpful.”
This year, the OU Board of Regents approved fee increases for some courses, particularly in aviation courses and courses at the OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, according to Daily archives.
The OU Regents also approved a fee of $13 per credit hour for students who start classes at OU’s Norman Campus or the College of Law in fall 2010. This fee is up from a similar fee of $10 per hour many students at OU already pay. Current students will not be affected by the increase.
Boren said in January he received about 300 proposals for fee increases from various OU colleges and departments, but did not present most of them to the regents.
“I just felt, given the general situation, for us to come in and raise 300 fees was just not the thing to do right now,” he said.
All students are invited to attend the forum, and no reservation is required.
Comments
sooner12 1 year, 9 months ago
Well, I'm sure as hell not going to pay for extra security in the stadium if beer is sold.
NormanNow 1 year, 9 months ago
Well the can come here, but they need to pay their fair share, it is ridiculous that OU's out of state tuition is lower than OSU's.
soonerboomers 1 year, 9 months ago
Without the Texans, the university would be an even bigger joke than it already is.
NormanNow 1 year, 9 months ago
Thankfully the legislature is on OUr side, too bad the regents are on the side TEXAS. Its time to raise out of state tuition at a disproportionate rate to in state tuition. Texans don't complain about tuition this is the University of OKLAHOMA. Your parents did not pay OKLAHOMA TAXES. If you want to complain because you were too stupid to get in UT (which as an Oklahoman I did but couldn't afford out of state) or A&M don't complain about tuition. Oklahoman should not subsidize the cost of TEXANS.
sooner12 1 year, 9 months ago
"If you want to complain because you were too stupid to get in UT (which as an Oklahoman I did but couldn't afford out of state) or A&M don't complain about tuition. Oklahoman should not subsidize the cost of TEXANS."-NormanNow
To whom it may concern: I'm from Houston, TX and I graduated in the top 15% of my high school class. I was involved in NHS, band, and UIL, among many other things. I DID get accepted into A&M (and got scholarships), and I most likely would have gotten into ut if I would have considered applying there. You can say as much crap as you want about Texans not paying enough out-of-state tuition, but you don't have the right to say that Texans go to OU because they're not smart enough to get into A&M or ut. I know plenty of Texans who got accepted to those schools and still came to OU, myself included. Oh, and also, Texan alumni give back to the University BIG TIME; you'd better put your money where your mouth is.
BarackObama 1 year, 9 months ago
I cannot believe that more people are not commenting on this. The apathy around here astounds me. I also agree with the first poster, Texans should have to pay a disproportionate amount of tuition because our tax dollars fund the school.
We also need to look at ways to generate revenue other than tuition and fee increases. How about we start by allowing beer to be sold at the football and basketball games? No, I am not some fat frat kid wanting to get hammered while I watch us run up 150 points on some no-name team from Idaho.
Imagine this: 85,000+ people (not including those stumbling around campus corner and common areas) at the football games. Hell let’s say 100k just for good measure. Hypothetically HALF those people want ONE beer (which I think is a rather conservative estimate). Sell the beer at around 5 dollars for a profit of 3.75 a beer (sound about right. That alone is $150k netted in revenue from one of six home games, and that doesn’t even include basketball—$900k for a football season. Say we get to 1 million dollars through football AND basketball combines (though I think the number would actually be closer to 3 million). I just saved 20,000 undergrad students 50 bucks apiece. Hypothetically, we could send 50 or so Oklahoma residents to our university on full rides if we get to 3 million.
Ok. So I am not an economist. I admit that I did just pull those numbers out of my ass. Maybe I didn’t account for a few things. So what. Frankly though it is apparent that serious revenue can be raised through selling alcohol at games. REVERSE THE ALCOHOL POLICY.
Just my 2 cents.
--Barry O.
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