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Oklahoma Senate
Senate approves bill to create SOSU branch campus
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Senate approved a bill Monday that will help provide citizens in southern Oklahoma with more higher education opportunities. House Bill 1227 will merge the existing Ardmore Higher Education Center into a four-year branch campus of Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SOSU). Sen. Frank Simpson is the principal Senate author of the bill.
“We, the local community, business leaders and area legislators, are all committed to do whatever it takes to make this branch campus successful. This merger has the potential to be a strong catalyst for economic growth in the area,” said Simpson, R-Ardmore. “In order for our state to be more competitive nationally and globally, we have to have more college graduates, and in order to do that we have to provide our citizens with more educational opportunities like this one.”
The Ardmore High Education Center is a stand-alone agency and serves as the last higher education center in the state. The other four Oklahoma higher education centers (once located in Idabel, Muskogee, Tulsa and Enid) were converted into branch campuses of four-year higher education institutions more than twenty years ago.
In 1994, the State Regents of Higher Education developed a geographic service map defining the service areas in which regional universities will have first priority for offering programs and courses consistent with their respective missions. The Ardmore High Education Center falls within the geographic service area assigned to SOSU.
Senate co-author, Sen. Josh Brecheen amended the measure in order to address funding concerns of the voluntary merger. The amendment specifies that no additional appropriated dollars will be used in the annexation of the campus, in the expansion of the existing campus or for the construction of a new campus in Ardmore. Pointing out that the current center in Ardmore is a stand alone agency that already receives state appropriated funds, Brecheen emphasized the possible cost-savings of the consolidation.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for people in the area. Having this branch campus will not only help local students attending college, but also unemployed adults in the area who need new skills to get a job,” said Brecheen, R-Coalgate, Senate co-author. “It’ll also be financially beneficial to the state as a whole. Consolidating these campuses should result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual state savings just as happened when the Idabel center merged into SOSU.”
According to Idabel education center reports, the center saw annual cost-savings of over $400,000 following their merger with SOSU.
The Ardmore Higher Education Center currently serves over 4,000 students a year providing degree programs as well as continuing education programs. Enrollment at the Center has grown by 70 percent since 2003.
The legislators noted that a lot of misinformation has been circulated concerning the bill and how it will affect other local institutions including East Central University and Murray State College.
“The nursing program as well as all other programs historically offered by Murray State and ECU will continue to be offered. If anything, this merger will help grow those programs,” said Simpson. “SOSU has assured and reassured us that those other institutions’ interests will be protected and that students currently enrolled at those two institutions will not be affected by this merger.”
Since the measure was amended, it will now return to the House for reconsideration.
