Power grab: Keep politicians out of tuition mix

The Oklahoman Editorial

Published: July 3, 2008

Politics and power are best friends, which is why it's not often you'll see lawmakers cede some of their clout. It's against their nature.

That's exactly why we hear grumblings at the start of nearly every legislative session about lawmakers who want to wrest back control over college tuition rates. We expect the next session will be no different.

Last week, the state's higher education regents approved a lengthy list of tuition and fee increases for the coming school year. The average increase was about 9.1 percent, with resident undergraduates paying about $300 more per year and nonresident undergraduates paying about $700 more per year.

Many families are struggling with the rising cost of gas and other necessities like food. From a political standpoint, it'd be a popular time for lawmakers to stump against tuition increases and in favor of the Legislature taking back tuition-setting authority. That would be a bad idea.

Lawmakers began gradually ceding that authority early this decade. Now they have virtually no say over the rates other than a statutory cap that limits tuition rates to a regional average and a cap on the new guaranteed tuition rate that's assured not to change for at least four years.

The shift is for the better. In the old days, tuition rates were political. Tuition typically didn't go up during election years, no matter how much higher education officials pleaded and demonstrated the need.

Despite rising tuition, the state's colleges and universities have stayed well within the legislative caps. An education at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University is still a bargain compared with other Big 12 schools.

Higher ed isn't immune from politics. But we see no reason to put tuition-setting authority back up for grabs. Leave it to the professionals who aren't stumping for votes and who know better the needs of colleges and universities.

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