OU President says tuition will not increase more than 9 percent
Boren explains budget crisis, answers questions at public forum in Oklahoma Memorial Union

Undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees will increase no more than 9 percent next fall, OU President David Boren said at a public forum in Beaird Lounge on Wednesday, May 5.

"Whatever it takes, we are not going to get in double digits this year," Boren said. "In other words, we're not going above 9 percent as an outside possibility."

Boren said the state legislature has not decided yet how much the state budget for the Norman campus will be cut. He said tuition and fees could increase by 4 percent, about $130.50 per semester, if state appropriations for the Norman campus are cut by 3 percent, or $4.2 million. If the state cuts funds by 10 percent, about $13.9 million, then tuition and fees could increase by 9 percent, or $292.50 per semester.

However, Boren said despite budget cuts, the OU scholarship program has raised enough money to offset the tuition increases.

"We've gone over our $150 million mark [in private scholarships]," Boren said. "We have actually not become less affordable; we've become slightly more affordable when you match the new resources together with the increased costs."

He also said OU would not experience a situation like California's, where some universities increased tuition and fees up to 33 percent in the middle of the fall semester last year, while cutting hundreds of courses and laying off hundreds of faculty.

During the forum, students questioned whether the OU administration was doing all it could to keep tuition and fees from rising.

Philosophy junior Matthew Bruenig asked Boren why the university continued constructing large buildings and using significant amounts of money for study abroad programs while OU is in a budget crisis.

Boren responded saying most current building projects are private gifts, such as the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation gift to fund the construction of a new School of Social Work. Regarding study abroad, the president pointed out that students passed a proposed student fee increase for study abroad during the UOSA presidential election in March.

In an interview following the forum, Bruenig said buildings funded with private donations can cost students money after being built.

"Even if [buildings are] being paid for by private donors, because they're so big, they're going to have high insurance costs and high maintenance costs, and so I have to question whether or not that's the best way to go."

Bruenig also questioned the president on large administrator salaries. Boren said OU's administrative costs have decreased from 14 percent to 6 percent since he became president.

"Also, you have to remember we're in a competitive pool," Boren said. "We don't want administrators' salaries being in the bottom three as they were when I first came to the university."

Nicholas Harrison, a former Senator of the OU Graduate Student Senate and member of the Student Advisory Board for the Oklahoma State Regents, said he wonders if the administration might be planning tuition and fee increases each semester.

"9 percent, while that's okay if you haven't had an increase the previous year, if they plan on increasing tuition 9 percent every year for the foreseeable future, that's not a sustainable trend."


Philosophy junior Matt Bruenig, OU College of Law graduate student Nicholas Harrison, and Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Clarke Stroud discuss their reactions to the forum.