Good grades can aid paying of bills
Good grades at OU can aid paying of bills

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By Susan Simpson
Published: February 14, 2008

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma is hoping to keep more high-achieving upperclassmen living on campus by giving them cash rebates for good grades.

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President David Boren said OU would be the first in the Big 12 to reward on-campus students for high grade-point averages.

The initiative, called the OU Academic Success Rebate Program, will reward upper-class and graduate students living in OU Traditions Square or the residence halls beginning this fall. Freshmen are required to live on campus.

"A great university is a true community where people of many different backgrounds and academic interests get to know each other and form bonds of friendship and mutual respect,” Boren said. "Living together in the residence halls helps promote this ideal, and we want to encourage our students to take advantage of the benefits which living on campus offer.”

More than 3,400 units have been added to the student housing supply in Norman in recent years, giving students more choices on and off campus. OU's Traditions Square apartments rent for $480 a month per student based on a nine-month contract and include all bills paid.

On-campus students experience more success
OU housing director Bill Henwood said campus housing features 24-hour monitored, quiet study areas and free tutoring as well as faculty that live with their families in student housing.

He said students who live on campus have substantially higher grade-point averages and a higher graduation rate than those who do not.

"It's a marketing effort, but it's founded on who we are as an institution. We are encouraging students and enabling them in their academic development,” Henwood said.

Rebates will be determined based on the student's cumulative OU GPA before the beginning of the semester, and it will then be given at the end of the semester as a credit to the individual's bursar account.

For more information about the program, go online to housing.ou.edu or call 325-2511.


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April is the poster child for what is wrong with Oklahoma...Even after all these years of progress and the current momentum that OKC has, the MASSIVE inferiority complex that resides within some people is astounding. There are cities and states with much more burdensome taxes (you can move to TX avoid income tax, but get ready to fork over $8-10k per year in property taxes). Good salaries can be found in OK with a good education. Everyone everywhere else isn't richer than you. The other problems mentioned exist in other cities and states, too. Go ahead and vote for Obama, and the Utopian society he has dreamed up will make all of these things better. Meanwhile, someone look up a suicide prevention hotline for April, just in case.
KA, Dallas - Feb 14, 2008 10:31 AM
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I really don't see exactly what the point would be. When the graduate, they will just leave Oklahoma and move to states with less city and state taxes, no personal income tax, higher wages, less teen pregnancy/drug use, lower divorce rates, better child care systems, better child advocacy units(DHS), so on and so forth.......
April, Oklahoma City - Feb 14, 2008 9:49 AM
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