For the 2025 regular session of the Oklahoma Legislature, the State Regents for Higher Education are requesting a $95 million base budget increase through the standard systemwide formula benefiting all institutions, as well as a new $150 million “research university” line item that could reshape the funding dynamics among the state’s colleges and universities.
If approved, that proposal would send both the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University an additional $75 million appropriation, a funding boost that would support the two “research” universities’ efforts to align with top-tier institutions from around the country.
Chancellor of Higher Education Sean Burrage presented the state regents’ 2025 legislative agenda and Fiscal Year 2026 budget request during a press conference Tuesday at the OU Health Sciences Center. He reviewed some items on the “funding request” page of the State Regents for Higher Education website, which shows the $95 million increase in base funding as well as $301.5 million of “institution-specific allocations,” virtually half of which would go to the new “research university” category that lawmakers would have to create.
“We’ve requested a $95 million increase in our base funding,” Burrage said. “That’s $9.3 million for the Strong Readers Act [and concurrent enrollment participation], $42 million for strategic investment in STEM and health care programs, [and] $43.7 million to fund performance-based institutional allocations for different matters.”
During his presentation, Burrage emphasized the $95 million systemwide request and did not directly discuss the new “research university” line item proposal until he was asked about it after the press conference. Asked his response to concerns among Oklahoma’s other 23 institutions that would not qualify for the new funding category, Burrage responded, “I can see that.”
“Of course, even in the last few years, there’s been specific funding that we directed to OU and OSU outside the formula,” Burrage said. “So it’s basically just kind of bringing it all together in one place. If you look at that budget request, there’s also specific requests for the regional universities and the two-year colleges as well. They’re just not named out individually.”
As outlined, the Legislature is also being asked to dedicate $55 million in new funding to the Regional University System of Oklahoma’s six institutions for “workforce investment.” Originally founded as teacher colleges and elevated to university status in the 1970s, the RUSO schools are:
- University of Central Oklahoma;
- Southeastern Oklahoma State University;
- East Central University;
- Southwestern Oklahoma State University;
- Northeastern Oklahoma State University; and
- Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
Because OU and OSU historically have the largest lobbying efforts, alumni visits and legislative representation at the State Capitol, it is unclear whether the $55 million RUSO proposal will receive the same consideration as the new “research university” funding proposal. For the 2025 session, however, the RUSO schools have a new CEO — Brandon Tatum, who served as Gov. Kevin Stitt’s chief of staff between November 2022 and June of this year.
“I hope the regional universities are recognized for the way they are moving the needle in the state of Oklahoma,” Tatum said in a statement after Tuesday’s press conference. “Our universities are the backbone to the Oklahoma workforce.”
Burrage: OU, OSU risk being ‘caught from behind by Texas schools’
A former state senator from Claremore and former president of SOSU in Durant, Burrage officially became the 10th chancellor of Oklahoma’s higher education system earlier this month. Before that, he was working as OU’s vice president for executive affairs and chief of staff for OU President Joe Harroz.
After a November meeting of the OU Board of Regents, Harroz spoke of the proposed $150 million “research university” line item as a long-term way to close the state funding gap between Oklahoma’s top universities and other public institutions around the country.
“This $75 million would be a huge step forward and make us competitive in terms of the funding,” Harroz said.
But Harroz acknowledged the proposal also would add more funding distance between the “research universities” and Oklahoma’s other institutions.
“We’re hoping that [lawmakers] leave the others where they were or give them an incremental increase under that budget request,” Harroz said. “This is creating a new category — a research university category. There’s the formula that it all comes through, but this is an ask that runs alongside that and is separate from the formula. That’s the key. It’s not through the traditional formula.”
OU and OSU offer the most advanced degree programs and enroll the largest numbers of Oklahoma students. In the interest of aligning them with other top-tier colleges and universities across the country, Harroz and the OU Board of Regents have argued that the state must improve its financial support. Additional funding, such as the proposed $150 million “new category,” could make OU and OSU more competitive among the Power Five conferences and the Association of American Universities, into which Harroz has repeatedly said OU desires admission.
“In the case of OU and OSU (…) the risk they have right now is being caught from behind — caught from behind by Texas schools,” Burrage said during Tuesday’s press conference. “Texas has their own version of the Oklahoma’s Promise (scholarship) called Texas’ Promise, and they raised that limit up to $100,000 for families. That is going to keep students on the Texas side of the Red River that would normally come across.”
Over the years, Oklahoma has seen a decrease in enrollment at several smaller institutions as higher education programs becomes more accessible through online platforms and other non-traditional opportunities. OU, OSU and other schools recruit heavily from out of state and charge higher tuition rates to non-resident students.
Burrage said Oklahoma is not “in the business” of educating Texans and is “in the business of importing a workforce to Oklahoma.” Stitt has challenged university leaders to increase their overall enrollment significantly, as well as in specific programs like nursing.
RUSO leaders, including Tatum, argue their institutions serve that function for many professions just as well as OU and OSU, and they say they are more likely to retain their graduates in Oklahoma for workforce purposes.
“We graduate over 9,000 students, retain over 80 percent of our graduates, and we prioritize affordability,” Tatum said. “I’m proud of the impact RUSO universities are making on Oklahoma. We have a desire to continue making a difference and recognize we can be doing even more in the future.”
Higher education funding requests by topic
In recent years, the Oklahoma Legislature has reversed its prior trend by increasing higher education funding. Coming off an increase in 2023, lawmakers again designated dollars to higher education during the 2024 session with major one-time capital appropriations of $160 million for OU and $110 million for OSU. The rest of the state system is also benefiting from the first round of a three-year $157.5 million package for deferred building maintenance on campuses.
Oklahoma’s FY 2025 base appropriation for higher education totaled $1.02 billion, while the FY 2026 base budget request discussed Tuesday totals $1.12 billion. That would equate to a 9.3 percent increase for the upcoming fiscal year even without the $301.5 million institution-specific requests for OU, OSU, RUSO schools, two-year colleges and constituent agencies (like university hospital systems).
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education website breaks down the $95 million increase in the FY 2026 budget request:
- $9.26 million toward legislative initiatives and programming;
- $42.04 million toward critical workforce needs; and
- $43.7 million toward institutional excellence and student success.
The state regents’ website also breaks down the $301.5 million request for institution-specific allocations:
- $2 million toward State Regents Agency 605 modernization and upgrades;
- $3.5 million toward establishment of a Collaboration and Consolidation Assistance Fund;
- $75 million toward OU’s research university status;
- $75 million toward OSU’s research university status;
- $55 million toward RUSO schools for workforce investment initiatives;
- $11 million toward two-year colleges for workforce investment initiatives; and
- $80 million toward constituent agencies, such as the OU Health Sciences Center, OSU Medical Authority, OSU College of Veterinary Medicine, OSU-OKC, OSU Okmulgee, the OU College of Law and the Oklahoma Geological Survey.
But when the Oklahoma Legislature convenes for its 2025 regular session on Monday, Feb. 3, lawmakers may not have as many discretionary dollars to allocate as they have had at their disposal the last two years. With a statewide sales tax cut on grocery items just starting to take effect in August, a November report from State Treasurer Todd Russ’ office said Oklahoma’s gross receipts over the past 12 months “total $16.87 billion, down $175.2 million” or 1 percent.
The State Board of Equalization — the governing body tasked with affirming how much money lawmakers can appropriate in 2025 — is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Friday and hear initial revenue estimates for FY 2026. In February, the board annually approves a final estimate off of which lawmakers will build their spreadsheets.
