OSU regents approve tuition increase

GOODWELL, Okla. (AP) _ Regents governing Oklahoma State University unanimously approved a nearly 7 percent tuition increase Friday for students in the OSU system. <br><br>The 6.97 percent tuition increase

Saturday, April 27th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GOODWELL, Okla. (AP) _ Regents governing Oklahoma State University unanimously approved a nearly 7 percent tuition increase Friday for students in the OSU system.

The 6.97 percent tuition increase will generate $2.2 million, which will help offset budget losses next year stemming from a 2 percent reduction in state funding.

``A quality education requires a financial investment to sustain excellence,'' OSU President James Halligan said during a meeting of the Board of Regents for OSU/Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges at Panhandle State University in Goodwell.

Thanks to Senate Bill 596, Oklahoma public colleges and universities can increase tuition for five years without legislative approval. Lawmakers capped tuition increases for resident undergraduates at 7 percent for any one time.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will still have to review the increase before it goes into effect.

For non-resident students and those attending the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, tuition will go up by 10 percent. Similar increases were enacted last year.

The OSU Student Government Association supports the increase.

Undergraduates in Tulsa or Stillwater would pay about $68 dollars more each semester under the new rates, while a nonresident student at the medical school in Tulsa would pay $1,212 more.

Tuition for a freshman or sophomore carrying 15 credit hours is $978 a semester. That amount will increase to $1,047 per semester.

In-state students on the Oklahoma City and Okmulgee campuses would pay an even $50 per credit hour under the plan.

The University of Oklahoma is still mulling its decision about increasing tuition again.

In other business, Halligan announced that OSU had received a $500,000 sensor grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Oklahoma lawmakers allocated $19 million in state funding this year to expand the OSU Center for Sensors and Sensor Technologies.

The sensor center is expected to make inroads into technology that can sense bacterial and chemical agents on food and agriculture products.