Higher Education

Report undermines claim of Oklahoma college affordability

September 23, 2025

Ray Carter

When OU officials approved this year’s tuition increase, the fifth consecutive annual increase at the school, they told parents not to worry, insisting that an OU degree was actually cheaper than ever.

In a June 12 letter, OU President Joseph Harroz, Jr., defended the university’s latest tuition increase.

“A degree from the University of Oklahoma is more affordable and valuable today than it was six years ago,” Harroz wrote.

OU’s decision to hike prices again contrasted with Oklahoma State University, where officials opted to hold tuition and mandatory academic fees flat for a fourth consecutive year.

At OU, resident students living on campus currently face an average of $31,733 combined in direct costs, including tuition, fees, books and supplies, and housing costs, and that figure rises to $38,999 when “indirect” costs such as transportation and loan fees are included.

Less than half of the members of OU’s freshman class have been from Oklahoma for the last two years, and prior to that, nearly half of the students came from other states or countries.

Harroz argued that due to a reduction of $150 million in annual operating costs since 2018, the cost of education at OU is effectively 27 percent lower today based on the amount the average resident freshman pays to attend OU. He also said the university has “significantly increased” need-based aid and scholarships.

But a new report undermines claims of greater affordability.

Student Debt, Home Ownership

A report by finance site WalletHub, “States with the Most and Least Student Debt,” showed that Oklahoma is the state with the 13th-highest level of student debt. In a related finding, WalletHub found the home ownership rate of Oklahomans between the ages of 25 and 34 is in the bottom half of the country, ranking 28th, despite homes being far more affordable in Oklahoma than in most states.

Only four states had a higher share of student-loan balances that are past due or in default than Oklahoma, according to the WalletHub report.

The WalletHub report included comments from a range of academic experts around the country. Many of those officials cautioned citizens against taking on student debt, particularly to attend “flagship” universities like OU.

Charles Corcoran, a professor of finance at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, said one way to minimize the amount of student debt is to go to “a private college with a large endowment.”

“You will get a grant (not a loan!),” Corcoran wrote. “I went this route with my children and paid less than half the sticker price. If not doable, do your first two years at a community college, then finish at a state university (probably not flagship, as they are costlier).”

Joseph A. Newman, a retired professor of finance at Auburn University at Montgomery, wrote that student loans “have the immediate impact of enriching university administrative, faculty, and staff salaries,” but come “at the expense of the student loan borrowers who will need to postpone car, housing, and vacation purchases.”

In his letter, Harroz said this year’s tuition increase will provide pay raises to OU faculty and staff, create new faculty positions, and pay for maintenance projects.

“Higher education should be thought of in terms of a business investment,” Newman wrote. “If the net gain after expenses is positive, education is financially viable. Whether that net gain is positive or not will definitely depend on the cost of the education, the quality of the education, and the chosen major. Whatever you do, make sure you really want to go to college and might not be better suited to a trade school. Choose wisely.”

Genevieve Dobson, an adjunct professor in the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida, said that from a financial standpoint “students should compare projected earnings with total loan costs.”

“If the loan repayment would consume an unsustainable percentage of future income, it may be time to consider alternatives such as a different school, a different major, or a different path altogether,” Dobson wrote.

Raymond Kowalczyk, a professor of accounting at Illinois Central College, noted that community colleges typically provide the first two years of courses “at a fraction of the cost” one would pay at a four-year university.

“You’re getting an equal or better education at a community college too,” Kowalczyk wrote. “Several studies show that community college students perform at or better than their university peers at junior year and beyond.”

Bruce Johnson, an instructor of business management at the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University, noted that in 1980 the price of a degree, adjusted for inflation, was two to three times cheaper than it is today.

Wall Street Journal: OU Price Hikes ‘The Most of Any Flagship’

The Wall Street Journal found that between 2002 and 2022, enrollment at the University of Oklahoma increased 15 percent, but tuition increased by 36 percent even after adjusting for inflation. Once student fees were included, the combined rate of growth was even more dramatic and was the highest in the nation.

“At the University of Oklahoma, per-student tuition and fees rose 166%,” the Journal reported, “the most of any flagship.”

A Nov. 14, 2024, report by Andrew Gillen, research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, reviewed state funding for colleges in all 50 states from 1980 to 2023 and concluded that “state disinvestment is a myth.” The report said the trends “disprove the common argument that tuition has been rising over the past several decades to offset cuts in state funding.”

The Cato report estimated that state funding for Oklahoma colleges has dropped only $2 per student since 1980, although funding has fluctuated in line with state economic activity, declining slightly during downturns before rebounding in times of economic growth.

At the same time, the report showed college tuition steadily increased from 1980 to 2023, even after adjusting for inflation. As with most states, Gillen found that tuition increases in Oklahoma far outpaced changes in state funding for colleges and universities.

This year, state college officials requested a 46 percent increase in state appropriations. Lawmakers and the governor ultimately increased college funding by 7.29 percent, providing $1.1 billion in funding to Oklahoma’s colleges and universities.

Johnson warned that a serious review of the value of a college degree may leave young people underwhelmed, if not worse.

“When I started teaching business finance classes 12 years ago, I thought it would be helpful to use a college degree as an investment and to teach the students how to use an internal rate of return (IRR) calculator,” Johnson wrote. “This IRR calculation is used to determine whether an investment is worthwhile by comparing its price and earnings over a specified time horizon. This exercise might have been fun, but when the students ran the numbers for their respective majors and proposed occupations, about half the students became agitated and their faces turned red. For many of them, the results showed it was not a good investment.”

[For more stories about higher education in Oklahoma, visit AimHigherOK.com.]