State Regents Approve $1.19 Billion Budget Request

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education are going to ask the state Legislature for more money for the next fiscal year.<br/><br/>Regents Thursday approved a budget request

Thursday, October 26th 2006, 10:55 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education are going to ask the state Legislature for more money for the next fiscal year.

Regents Thursday approved a budget request of a little more than $1.19-billion. That's an increase of $171- million over what higher education received during the current fiscal year.

Regents officials say the increase is necessary to address mandatory costs at state colleges, including rising health and dental insurance premiums for employees.

They say they also need to offer more scholarships and to catch up on matching-fund requests from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, as the two schools continue to increase their number of endowed chairs.