Junior Brandon Lucas will not be returning to Oklahoma Christian University next year due to the recently announced tuition increase.
“There is nothing I can do about it,” Lucas said. “I am just a student. I choose to go here and now I can’t afford it, so I have to leave. I just feel bad for all the new in- and out-of-state people.”
Tuition rates will increase by 4.5 percent for the 2016-2017 school year, an average cost of $28,130 per student.
“My first thought when they announced rates were going up was, ‘Wow. Already?’ and then I decided that I’m going to leave to keep from going into even more debt,” Lucas said.
Lucas will transfer to Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado.
“I have to leave everyone I know behind,” Lucas said. “I am going to miss my friends the most. We’ve grown together for three years and now I just have to leave them behind.”
Lucas’ little brother Dustin is a current sophomore and will continue to attend Oklahoma Christian.
“It ultimately came down to a decision because our mom and dad couldn’t afford loans to OC for both of us anymore,” Lucas said. “His degree is gaming and animation and it’s a really big deal here. I can get my degree anywhere, so I chose to leave.”
Lucas said he first tried to find ways to offset the new increase by applying to work with residence life.
“I was trying to get a housing job, and once that fell through I knew that there was no way that both of us could do this, at all,” Lucas said. “I’m already approximately $60,000 in debt.”
Oklahoma Christian has been in the process of updating the campus with the Thrive fundraising campaign and other endowed projects. Lucas said he feels this could be a source of the problem.
“Some ways we could save money could be not building more things to make our campus look pretty and fix things like Wilson East and West that are actually in bad shape,” Lucas said. “That’s the main one I deal with everyday.”
However, the Thrive initiative is in place for specific projects, decided on based on the donor wishes. The university cannot reallocate any money donated for a specific use, according to Director of Advancement Will Blanchard.
“I don’t know their budget style and I don’t have a solution,” Lucas said. “I just see them building nice pretty things all the time, but when you actually get to stay here it’s different.”
Studying mathematical education, Lucas said he is not worried changing schools will hurt his career path.
“I’ll come back and visit to see my brother, but that will probably be it,” Lucas said. “I don’t plan on attending OC for school again.”
Although Lucas’s mother graduated from Oklahoma Christian, he said that she supports his decision to change schools.
“She’s not really upset about it, but that’s because she understands,” Luca said. “Especially with how much money teachers make, she thinks I’m making a smart move. She’s upset they are raising tuition rates because Dustin will still be here.”
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4.5% is not that much. Given the numbers here, its about $1200. I dont think the tuition hike put Brandon over the top. I think he just needed to go somewhere that was cheaper overall. Do I want these kids to have to pay more? Of course not. But dont blame an additional $1200 on the reason you’re not coming back for one more year. Sounds to me like it was just too expensive for him to begin with.
Sometimes $1200 is all it takes to push someone over the edge. It may not seem like a lot of money in the grand scheme of things but depending on the situation at the time, it really can affect an important decision.
I am an OC grad and overall enjoyed my time there, but I would argue that tuition for OC (and most other private u’s) is overly expensive in general. Yes, compared to many other private universities OC is relatively inexpensive, but in terms of overall value it compares less well to large public universities. In the “real world,” where OC’s reputation remains fairly obscure, students would be better served with a degree from a quality public university and less debt. And I know enough people who became or remained strong, fully-devoted Christians, with great groups of loving Christ-following friends and involvement in outstanding organizations like Young Life, Campus Crusade, local church groups, etc., at public universities, and observed enough imposed, begrudging religious activity, shallow commitment, and inauthenticity by enough students at OC, to discount any arguments about the value added by benefit of it being a “Christian” college. Not meaning to be harsh or hate on OC, just trying to be objective and truthful.
I am currently a student at OC, with student loans, and I’m glad they raised tuition. Here’s why: I’d much rather pay an additional $1200/yr and maintain a high quality of education than save a little bit of cash and receive a less than stellar education. Tuition raises are a normal part of any college (public or private) and are almost exclusively caused by external economic forces, such as inflation. OC has done a great job of holding tuition prices 3 of the last 5 years. However, they do have to spend money and eventually they have to make increases. I’m sorry that Brandon is leaving, but $1200 is 2% of his current debt which will only cost him an extra $1540 including interesting, so I think it’s unfair to blame his departure on OC’s price increases.