More Oklahomans going to college

Friday, December 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ More Oklahoma high school graduates are going to college, but their math scores continue to lag behind the rest of the nation, according to the 2002 Report Card by the state Regents for Higher Education.

The report card, released Thursday, also indicates the number of Oklahomans with college degrees is slowly inching upward.

Figures show that 50 percent of the state's high school graduates go on to college immediately after high school, compared with 48 percent in 1996 when higher regents starting uniform gathering of those figures.

The number of students returning to the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University for their sophomore year is increasing. The state's two-year colleges experienced a slight drop in retention rates but were still ahead of the national average.

Graduation rates at OU and OSU have improved from 44.8 percent in 1996 to 51.6 percent.

``More Oklahomans have bachelor's degrees, up from 20.1 percent to 20.4 percent,'' Chancellor Hans Brisch said. Nationally, about 25 percent of the adult population over age 25 has earned a bachelor's.

Other findings include more of Oklahoma's brightest students are staying in-state for college, the state's higher education system is the nation's second most affordable and the state's community colleges rank fourth in cost.

The report card shows ACT scores remain steady while the national average is dropping slightly. Oklahoma's average score of 20.5 lags behind the national average of 20.8.

Higher education officials are concerned the program contributing to more students going to college could lose millions of dollars because of budget cuts affecting state agencies.

Nearly $50 million has been cut from this year's appropriated higher education budget.

There are 20,800 students enrolled in the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, considered the chief program that will increase Oklahoma's number of college graduates.

The OHLAP program pays tuition for students who sign up in the eighth through 10th grades, provided the students' family income is $50,000 or less annually and the student maintains a 2.5 grade point average.

Cost of the program will more than double next fiscal year, said Bryce Fair, in charge of the program for higher education.

The free tuition program is costing the state about $4.7 million but will jump to more than $10 million next fiscal year.