Budget & Tax, Higher Education

A look at higher-education spending

June 13, 2024

Curtis Shelton

Oklahoma’s political leaders wrapped up the 2024 legislative session last month after agreeing to large increases in government spending. 

In our ongoing series of blog posts looking at government spending, we continue to work our way through the 10 largest state agencies in terms of state appropriations. As a reminder, they are:

1. Department of Education
2. Oklahoma Health Care Authority
3. Regents for Higher Education
4. Department of Transportation
5. Department of Human Services
6. Department of Corrections
7. Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
8. Department of Career and Technology Education
9. Department of Public Safety
10. Office of Management and Enterprise Services

Today we come to higher education. Over the last two decades, the Regents for Higher Education appropriation has grown by 33 percent when adjusted for inflation—from $800 million to $1.02 billion (when adjusted to current dollars). 

Sources: Oklahoma Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports; Oklahoma House of Representatives Fiscal Summary; SB1125 Fiscal Summary; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Inflation Calculator

Interestingly, even as state appropriations have increased, tuition also has steadily increased. We’ll look at that in a subsequent post.