Oklahoma A&M regents approve tuition hike

The nearly $1.1 billion budget includes $238.5 million in state appropriations, a 1.28 percent increase in state funding from fiscal year 2012. The budget must be approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and, if approved, will take effect July 1.

Tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students will rise 2.8 percent, about $200 a year for full-time students taking 30 hours. Currently, tuition is about $7,400 a year for full-time, in-state undergrads, OSU said. Tuition for in-state graduate students will go up 6.5 percent, about $400 a year.

For full-time, out-of-state students, tuition and fees would rise 4.7 percent — about $870 per year — bringing their yearly cost to nearly $19,500.

“The decision to raise tuition is a difficult one,” OSU President Burns Hargis said in a statement. “We appreciate the financial sacrifice many of our students and their families must make in order to receive a higher education from OSU.”