Wichita State University is launching a new tuition discount for residents in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas. As KMUW’s Deborah Shaar reports, it’s the latest effort to increase enrollment.
The Shocker City Partnership will allow residents in 18 counties in Oklahoma to attend WSU at the same cost as Kansas residents.
That in-state tuition break means a savings of about $8300 a year for a typical undergraduate semester. Currently, it costs about $6,177.44 a year for in-state tuition at WSU.
WSU admissions director Bobby Gandu says Wichita State is now the most affordable large research university in the area.
"Our tuition rate for those students from those Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas is going to be actually more competitive than what they would be getting from their flagship in the state of Oklahoma," Gandu says.
The tuition discount takes effect next semester and is also available for graduate students from those areas.
Gandu says they’re already seeing results from another tuition reduction plan --Shocker Select-- launched in September targeting potential students in Texas and other parts of Oklahoma. He says student applications from those areas for fall 2016 are up about 25 percent compared to last year at this time.
The Shocker City Partnership applies to residents of the following Oklahoma counties: Canadian, Cherokee, Cleveland, Creek, Grady, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, Muskogee, Oklahoma, Okmulgee, Osage, Pawnee, Pottawatomie, Rogers, Tulsa, Wagoner and Washington.
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Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar.
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