OU, OSU land in bottom 10% nationwide for state appropriations to higher ed

Year after year, OU and other state-funded colleges have had to cut spending, raise tuition or make other adjustments to account for shrinking support from the Legislature, higher education officials said.

“This reality puts increased burden on the university’s efforts to make its education affordable and accessible,” said Kesha Keith, a spokeswoman for OU.

Among state-funded colleges nationwide, OU and Oklahoma State University have both fallen into the bottom 10% in state appropriations, according to The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on education.

In research published this month, Hechinger warned that universities all across the United States are facing an imminent financial crisis based on enrollment trends, tuition revenue, public funding and endowment health. And the report’s pessimism has nothing to do with COVID-19. It’s based on data from before the pandemic.

While OU and OSU were mentioned for lack of state funding, the report includes Oral Roberts University for receiving low tuition revenue per student.

Ironically, the “financial stress test” report doesn’t include the University of Tulsa, which laid off 47 employees this month on top of giving a 10% to 15% salary reduction last month to top school officials and some athletic coaches.

“Dozens of colleges and universities nationwide started 2020 already under financial stress,” The Hechinger Report said, and the coronavirus pandemic has only made the situation more urgent.

“Like all universities, OU has seen losses since the beginning of the pandemic,” Keith said, pointing especially to event cancellations, health care costs and increased cleaning expenses.

OU received about $18 million from the federal CARES Act to help offset the pandemic’s economic effects. But the university went through the money very quickly, Keith said, with half of it going directly to students. OU used $7.7 million to make up for student refunds on parking, housing and food contracts, enhanced cleaning expenses and continuing operational costs, she said.

Even with the federal funding, OU has had to implement a hiring freeze, impose travel restrictions and defer capital improvement projects, she said.

“The financial toll on OU has been sizable,” Keith said, “though the university is better positioned than other institutions to withstand the impacts.”

The Hechinger Report agrees. While OU, OSU and ORU each scored low in one out of four metrics that Hechinger researchers looked at, more than 500 colleges nationwide showed warning signs in two or more metrics.

Featured video