The OU Board of Regents will be meeting to decide just how things are going to go and more than likely, costs are going to go up. In a video found HERE, the Oklahoman's Ed Kelley discusses how Oklahoma, compared to the rest of the nation, has a better value for higher education.
It's an old tactic - comparative analysis. Compared to Colorado, our average median income is at the bottom of the barrel. Compared to California colleges, our tuition rates are relatively low and the increases families will experience this fall at OU will be minimal. Compared to the rest of the Big 12, OU rates are at the bottom of the barrel. Compared to the Prius, the Chevy Avalanche gets crap mileage.
And so on, so forth.
But Oklahomans have gotten used to such a comparative analysis and we're smarter than that. Back in the day, we had the opportunity to increase our gasoline taxes because we needed roads and bridge work and "compared to the rest of the region," we needed to spend more. Poppycock. And the voters shot it down like a Bob White Quail on opening day.
Guys like Ed Kelley don't really have to worry about just how much higher education will cost their children because frankly, they can more than afford it. The average Oklahoman, however, becomes infuriated at the cost of the increases and largely blames the legislature for turning control back over to the Regents to increase tuition rates whenever and however they feel necessary.