Higher Education

Whistleblower: OU dental school prioritizing high-tuition foreign students as some Oklahomans get squeezed out

January 21, 2026

Ray Carter

In recent years, the University of Oklahoma has significantly increased its reliance on out-of-state and international students, who can be charged significantly higher tuition rates than Oklahoma students.

For the last two years, the majority of OU’s freshman class has consisted of non-Oklahomans, and out-of-state and international students have accounted for 71 percent of freshman enrollment growth at OU since 2014.

According to a whistleblower, a similar trend is underway at OU’s dental school, which increasingly relies on foreign students.

The source, an individual familiar with the OU dental program who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that students admitted to the Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID) program at OU pay $176,011 per year for two years of training. In contrast, OU collects just $45,381 per year from Oklahoma residents, meaning OU collects nearly twice as much money from foreign students in two years as it does from Oklahoma residents over the entire four-year program.

While the total amount collected from ASPID students is almost the same as the total amount paid by non-resident students from other states attending OU’s dental school, OU collects $352,022 in tuition from the ASPID students in just two years, compared to collecting almost the same amount over four years from non-resident students from other states.

“They’ve gotten to where they look at this ASPID program as a source of revenue, because they can charge so much more for it,” the whistleblower said.

There are concerns that OU is, at least indirectly, limiting opportunities for U.S.-born students in the dental program since spots are limited and international students have easier access.

In the 2021-2022 school year, 928 graduates of U.S. undergraduate programs applied for 54 positions at the OU College of Dentistry, meaning just one of every 17 applicants was accepted. At the same time, around 100 foreign-trained dentists applied for 14 ASPID spots at the school, meaning about one in seven applicants was accepted.

In practice, that means many American students are turned away even as a growing number of spots are reserved for foreign-trained students each year, according to the whistleblower.

Because demand far exceeds the supply of spots available, U.S. students may have to apply to the OU program multiple times across several years before being admitted—if they are admitted at all.

And once U.S. students are in the OU dental program, ASPID students can indirectly detract from the quality of instruction other students receive, according to the whistleblower.

Due to language barriers and lower-quality preliminary training in some foreign schools, the whistleblower said foreign students often take up a disproportionate amount of OU instructors’ time, which has an indirect negative impact on training for U.S. students in the program.

Also, the whistleblower said it appears foreign students are much less likely to remain in Oklahoma after completing dental school, meaning the disproportionate focus on foreign students can detract from efforts to address Oklahoma’s shortage of dentists, particularly in rural areas.

The source said the number of ASPID students at OU has steadily increased in recent years.

In a statement, OU officials defended the ASPID program, saying the university has increased the number of spots for U.S. citizens at the dental school in recent years, even as the ASPID program has also increased in size.

“Oklahoma ranks 49th in the nation for access to dental care, and dental deserts across the state leave families with limited options,” the OU statement said. “To address this need, the OU College of Dentistry is committed to ensuring strong opportunities for Oklahoma students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) program. The Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID) is a separate pathway and does not reduce opportunities for Oklahoma DDS students. In fact, subject to accreditor approval, DDS enrollment is planned to increase by approximately 30 percent over the next five years as part of the College’s strategic plan to meet the state’s dentist workforce needs, particularly in rural Oklahoma. Faculty and clinical resources are structured to support all students in both pathways without compromising educational quality.”

The OU statement said the training of international students is “an important part of this overall strategy,” and said ASPID participants must “meet the same or greater rigorous academic and clinical standards as all OU dental students” and must also “demonstrate English proficiency with a minimum Test of English as a Foreign Language score of 94, consistent with peer programs.”

OU did not provide data on how many ASPID students remain in Oklahoma after completing their training at the dental school.

However, 2024 Employment Outcomes, a report released by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, showed that most nonresident students, whether from other states or other countries, leave Oklahoma within a few years of graduation. The report showed that within five years of graduation, only 33.5 percent of non-resident students with bachelor’s degrees in any field remained in Oklahoma.

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