Oklahoma higher education needs more funding to meet completion goals, chancellor says

Oklahoma Higher Education Chancellor Glen Johnson told a group of state legislators, congressional aides and others that the college completion initiative has support at every public college and university campus in the state.

“It requires the support of every regent body and every president, and it has that,” he said. “We're committed to this initiative.”

Johnson laid out the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education's legislative agenda for the upcoming session during a forum Wednesday at the University of Central Oklahoma. At the center of that agenda is a request that includes a budget increase of $90.4 million, or about 9.47 percent.

Most of the funding increase would be related to the college completion goals, according to the appropriations request. The largest share — $55 million — would offset costs brought on by enrollment increases.

The state's college completion goals will make up the largest part of the agency's legislative agenda next year, Johnson said. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has called for a 67 percent increase in college degrees and certificates earned in Oklahoma by 2023.