University of Oklahoma raising tuition for out-of-state students

NORMAN — Tuition for out-of-state students at the University of Oklahoma will be going up in the fall.

The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents unanimously approved the 3% increase for nonresident undergraduate students and graduate students during their Tuesday meeting.

Tuition for in-state students will not change.

Undergraduate nonresident students will pay about $16 more per credit hour. Nonresident graduate students will see an increase of about $18.90 per credit hour.

OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. said the university wants higher education to be accessible for all students.

“(OU tuition is) still lower on average for the average student than it was five years ago, and for all of us in higher education, that's a remarkable thing to say,” Harroz said. “The goal and the dream is that we have excellence and that any student, certainly any Oklahoma resident, that has the talent … the ability and the drive, but not the financial means, has the ability to attend.”

This is the second straight year OU regents have approved a tuition hike. In June 2021, regents approved a 2.75% tuition increase for all undergraduate and graduate students.

Regents also approved OU’s 2023 budget of $1.13 billion. The budget includes raising faculty salaries by 3%, hiring and maintaining new faculty and general operating costs.

The raises will go into effect July 1, Harroz said.

“You don't have to follow the university for the last decade to know that these raises are incredibly important. Our hope is it's the first of regular raises,” Harroz said.

The board also voted to approve the establishment of the Polytechnic Institute in Tulsa with no objections.

OU Polytechnic Institute would operate on the OU-Tulsa campus. The school will focus on high-demand careers and advanced technology, such as software engineering, electric vehicles, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and telehealth.

The regents also authorized the university's administration to contract and make payments toward the construction of a new softball stadium for OU's national championship-winning softball team. The project, which will be named Love's Field, has an estimated budget of $42 million.

The project update comes after the board approved the inflation-adjusted budget during its yearly Master Plan of Capital Improvement Projects on May 13.

As of Tuesday, $28 million of the $42 million budget has been raised by over 800 donors. This includes a $12 million lead gift from Love's Travel Stops that originally began as a $9 million pledge on Oct. 28, 2021.

Contributing: Sports writer Justin Martinez

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU regents raise tuition 3% for out-of-state students