OU won't increase tuition!

[badger]

Yay! (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=19&articleid=20090528_298_0_TheUni203830)

:mad: Although, it would have been nice if this happened while we were all in school, right?

[NormanPride]

Did they increase the fees, though?

[badger]

Did they increase the fees, though?

Well, sh!t, I dunno... come to think of it, OU does have funny fees... that's a very good question. I am curious now.

EDIT: They aren't increasing tuition OR fees. Yay!

[Boomer.....]

Yeah, it would have been better news while I was going there. I think I saw an increase just about every year.

[NormanPride]

Sweet! Hooray for the Economy!

....Wait, what?

[SoonerStormchaser]

You mean that Boren finally pulled his head out of his *** and saw the forest for the trees?

[tommieharris91]

Yea WTF is this? Why could it not be like this when I went there?

[badger]

I think there was a time when OU valued being the cheapest on the market, even to the point where Texas students paying outta state tuition could come to OU cheaper than an in-state school... but that time passed in about 2001, when every school raised tuition, had hiring freezes and capped enrollment to a greater extent.

Plus, I think Boren wanted OU to upgrade its standing as a research institution as opposed to its standing as a bargain. Personally, I think more of the state valued it for its bargain than for its research.

[King Crimson]

OU is still a bargain compared to other public U's in other states....and probably, lately (with a share of thanks to Boren) produces a degree that has a value above the "market". i don't really understand this thread. to me, it has almost no content other than the consumer/student perspective that college is costly. that's universal and has very little to do with David Boren in the big picture. trying to politicize it (stormchaser) is crude.

in order to satisfy student (and would-be student) "needs" universities have had to completely transform the basic informational infrastructure they provide (at relatively low cost to students, in terms of fees) over the last decade, classrooms have to be made to facilitate a variety of media accessibility, and moreover outfit dorms with all the latest consumer goodies (like the range of digital cable channels, wireless everything, etc) which are, in truth, largely anterior to the *necessities* of learning....gotta have a state of the art, spa-type student workout facility so Mitzy from Plano can use one of the 8 million elliptical machines 24/7/365.

these costs are going to show up somewhere. the fact is universities are asked to provide a lot of "social life" or "life-style" benefits that are above and beyond what has hitherto been seen as part of "university culture" than at any time previously...and must do so in order to remain competitive to it's would-be consumers (prospective students)

and, regardless, tuition goes up at EVERY college, EVERY year. this isn't miserly, mean Democrat nanny state Boren trying weasel into your pocketbook.

[AggieTool]

Phew....

I don't think I 'coulda spared even ONE more chicken.:D

[badger]

i don't really understand this thread.

I started it for two reasons - one, because this is soonerfans.com and I figured we'd care if something involving OU happened. Two, it has been quite a few years since the last tuition and fees freeze, so it's noteworthy that OU decided not to increase tuition and fees for once.

whether it turns into a boren bashing or a discussion on our beloved university... well, this is the south oval. this thread will probably be inevitably locked like the rest :D

[King Crimson]

i agree it's noteworthy and admirable. you want to see astronomical numbers, go look at the U of Colorado's out of state tuition.

but, in addition to the fact that everyone thinks they are an expert on higher education**, there's some kind of expectation that universities should provide a service that is somehow outside the vicissitudes of the economy. anything more than that the only explanation is greed, lazy commie tenured profs leeching the taxpayers, or political misuse of public moneys.

**just because you (plural) went to a college doesn't mean you have comprehensive knowledge of how it works. just because you can order a cheeseburger doesn't mean you know how to run a restaurant. just because you have flown in a plane to O'Hare doesn't mean you know HOW to fly a plane to O'Hare. the idolatry of the consumer in our culture more often than not produces a brand of partial knowledge that, considered in the social totality, is really a kind of sanctioned idiocy in the literal sense coupled with a misplaced sense of authority.


:pop:

[badger]

An update from yesterday - OSU has also decided (pending the regents' final decision) that it will also forego tuition/fee hikes.

This is the first time this has happened in 15 years. (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090529_11_A1_Frtefr260406&archive=yes)

I'm not going to claim to know how to run a university - President Boren makes it look easy, to his credit - but I think people have a right to feel they have a stake in the management of something they pay so much into... kind of donors and the BYU football tix issues currently being discussed over on the football board.

[King Crimson]

but I think people have a right to feel they have a stake in the management of something they pay so much into...

absolutely. but, there's more to having a stake than complaining about one's bill. football tickets are a different issue to me, kind of apples and oranges. the AD is multi-million dollar business with a huge Nike contract and a large degree of autonomy in relation to state tax-payer money....the Bizzell Library doesn't have a Nike contract.