By SAMI MCGUIRE
Staff Reporter
Throughout the last four years, funding of higher education from the Oklahoma government has dramatically dropped. Only 30 percent of Northwestern Oklahoma State University funding is from the state of Oklahoma.
Northwestern president, Janet Cunningham, said: “We need more bachelor degree holders in the state. We are below the national average; almost all jobs coming in the next three to five years require at least some college. The funding cuts we have experienced have really made that difficult. Over the last three years we have lost over 20 employees. We have tried to protect our faculty positions, because they deal directly with students, but there are a lot of staff positions that we no longer have.”
While it is something Northwestern staff and faculty have shown concern about, no students have approached our district representative of Oklahoma with any concerns.
Carl Newton is District 58’s representative in the Oklahoma House. District 58 covers counties Alfalfa, Major, Woods and Woodward.
Newton said of the few people that have approached him about the issue it have been faculty of Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
But why haven’t students at Northwestern asked? It impacts the students, just as much if not more, than the faculty and staff.
Over the last few years tuition rates have risen. Classes have been cut; there haven’t been improvements to many facilities. Professors have had to take on extra work because Northwestern couldn’t afford to fill positions. Financial aid hasn’t been able to keep up with rising costs. All this effects students, and yet no students here have raised their voices about it, or asked why.
Oklahoma isn’t the only state that has been affected by decreased state funding for higher education. At one college students are even protesting the lack of funds from the government. Iowa State started a protest/campaign called #NoFundingNoFuture to try to bring awareness to their government that they aren’t going to sit idly by why the state takes away their funding.
“I think students should be informed, just like other citizens of the state,” Cunningham said. “If they feel passionately about a subject they should contact their legislator.
Increases in tuition on the horizon should definitely be something they should be interested in, and should speak out about.”
There are ways to get the government’s attention. The #NoFundingNoFuture is a start, but students and the community can still do more. Newton had several ideas on how to make a real impact.
“Honestly people need to be a part of the legislator’s campaigns,” Newton said, “and find out what they want or what they feel like in their campaigns. Then support those who support you, and don’t support those who don’t support you. If high education is someone’s big interest you need to find a candidate that is about higher education.”
Finding the right legislators is extremely important. Newton said some of the Oklahoma legislators believe higher education is a privilege, not a right, so the government shouldn’t be apart of it at all. That is one reason why higher education funding has dropped. Another reason is budget cuts in the government itself. They have less money in general so they have less to give, Newton said.
It may seem as higher education is on the low end of priority to Oklahoma, but Newton said common education and higher education take up 50 percent of Oklahoma’s budget.
“I think they need to tell the story of what higher education can do for the government,” Newton said. “By 2020, 67 percent of all jobs will require more than just a high school education. I think it is important for the future of Oklahoma to keep growing and functioning, because if the best we can do is get high school education, what kind of jobs are we going to have in Oklahoma?”
Growth of Oklahoma is one of Cunningham’s big concerns as well.
“I think the state of Oklahoma is going to have to decide what kind of state it wants to be,” Cunningham said. “Do we want to be first in all statistics that are bad, like incarceration rates and health outcomes, and worse in things that are good, like education level and per capita income?”
According to USNews.com, Oklahoma ranks 30th in education and only 32 percent of the population has a college education. Oklahoma’s median income also sits a little over $25,000. State funding, income and education all correlate with each other.
David Pecha, vice president of administration, affirmed this. Although tuition has had to rise because of decreased government funding, he said there has to be a balance in what you charge for tuition because at some point it becomes unaffordable to the students.
The school gets money from student tuition and the state government, but Northwestern also receives many private funds from donors. Many private funds are typically directed towards a certain department or facility. Northwestern doesn’t count on funds in their operational budget. The school also seeks out grant opportunities whenever possible.
“There have been some business leaders in the state that have this new ‘Step Up for Oklahoma’,” Cunningham said. “They have offered out some solutions that is kind of a compromise approach, so I try to stay optimistic.”