Every college and university in Oklahoma has spiked tuition this fall, but the increases didn't make a dent in enrollment. In fact, they ended the 2009-10 school year with 10,000 more students than the previous year.

"We ended the last school year ... with 247,000 students enrolled," says Ben Hardcastle, director of communications for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, which approved the tuition increase in June. "We anticipate more than that enrolling this fall."

Students attending community colleges are seeing an average increase of 5.1%, while in-state undergraduates at universities are seeing an average increase of 5.2%. This follows a 5.06% cut in state funding for higher education.

"We closed out the summer with a 10% increase over last year, and we look at fall being close to that," says Ben Fenwick, Rose State College spokesperson. "As of Aug. 5, our fall enrollment is 8.5% up from this same time last year."

Southern Nazarene University reported a 2% to 3% tuition increase going into the 2009-10 school year, "which is similar to most private universities," says Todd Brant, director of recruitment. Yet SNU's enrollment numbers in August topped 2009's.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City University reported the largest incoming domestic freshmen class in its history, despite a 5% tuition increase for undergraduate students and a 4% increase for law school students.

"We are just slightly ahead of last year, less than 1%," says Eduardo Prieto, vice president of enrollment services. "We expected our domestic undergraduate numbers to be up, but we knew we'd be down in international enrollment."

Ironically, the down economy is driving at least some of the increase in enrollment, says Christie Hawkins, Oklahoma State University, director of institutional research and information management, noting its current incoming class of 3,400 makes for its largest freshman class in the last three decades.

"We're seeing a big jump in enrollment. Our tuition increase was pretty minimal at 4% to 4.5%, which, combined with no increase last year, means we've had a 2% to 2.5% increase over the last two years," she says. "Whenever our economy is down, we always see a jump in graduate enrollment. People are looking ... to better their employment chances."

FACING COSTS
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education says state law requires Oklahoma's tuition to remain below the average of other institutions. In addition, the regents have to make efforts to increase financial aid at a similar level of any tuition hike.

Oklahoma's Promise, a state program that allows students from families making less than $50,000 a year to earn free college tuition, will receive $57 million for the 2011 fiscal year.

All the higher-learning institutions in the state have tightened their belts to keep costs low. Facing mandatory operating costs, the colleges and universities instituted a travel and hiring freeze, implemented energy conversion practices, and reduced administrative expenses. In the past three years, more than $73 million has been saved.

"The challenge," says Hardcastle, "is when we have to increase course offerings due to the enrollment numbers, but keep the quality of education, as well."

In FY 2009-10, a tuition freeze was made possible when the state Legislature approved a 3% increase to higher ed's operating costs. This year, the Legislature cut funding by about the same amount.

"We've been looking at ways to save with energy, which means retrofitting heating and air systems, putting timers on lights," says Hardcastle. "Some of the campuses have hiring delays to save money and have instituted early retirement programs."

Still, some families will struggle to pay for an advanced education.

Candy Nordmark has two sons in college. One is attending Southwestern State University on a Pell Grant; the other, also at Southwestern, is relying on student loans.

But her daughter will not attend.

"It has affected her. She has a 1-month-old son, and she just can't afford to go," says Nordmark. "It's going to be tough on my oldest. He's engaged to be married, and both he and his wife will have student loans they will have to pay off."

STUDENTS! STUDENTS!

How other institutions are faring: