NORMAN — Despite funding cuts from the Oklahoma legislature, tuition and mandatory fees will remain flat at Cameron University when the 2020-2021 school year starts in August.
On Thursday, the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents unanimously approved Cameron University’s budget for the coming school year.
“We wanted to make it as simple as possible for you all (the regents) and the students,” Cameron President John McArthur said. “There are no tuition increases built into the budget for undergraduate or graduate students.”
The regents’ decision means tuition will still start at $215 per credit hour for undergraduate students with Oklahoma or Texas residency and top out at $628 per hour for an out-of-state graduate student.
The school’s $43.3 million budget includes $1.5 million in federal stimulus money and additional support from the Cameron University Foundation to help offset a projected $663,355 loss in state appropriations. However, the school will still need to pull $1.7 million out of its reserve fund to offset some of the mandatory cost increases.
The budget also accounts for a projected 15 percent decline in enrollment, a figure McArthur described as “conservative.” With that in mind, the school has implemented a hiring freeze for vacant teaching positions that will only be lifted if enrollment exceeds expectations.
Despite the expected drop in enrollment, McArthur said the school is seeing an unanticipated silver lining: an increase in requests for campus housing. The school shut down its dorms after Spring Break in response to COVID-19 and will not reopen them until August.
Cameron students who live on campus this fall will not have a roommate and access to the dormitories will be restricted. Additionally, two apartment buildings will be kept empty in case the university needs space to quarantine a resident.
“There are more students requesting to live in the dorms than expected,” McArthur said with a chuckle. “Anecdotally, they’ve had all of mom and dad they can take.”