OSU delays raises
STILLWATER — Oklahoma State University is delaying performancebased pay raises for faculty and staff because of lower than projected enrollment numbers, a top official said Monday.
Joe Weaver, OSU’s senior vice president of administration and finance, said improved graduation rates among fourth- and fifth-year seniors factored into the decision to postpone the raises, which were scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.
“They got done sooner than we expected them to,” he told The Oklahoman. “The administration is not sad that graduation rates are improving. It’s a good thing. But the flip side is it did result in a budget (shortfall).”
Weaver said a nearly 2 percent drop in enrollment — about 400 fewer undergraduate, graduate, transfer and international students — cost the university about $5 million in tuition and fees.
Weaver said OSU remains committed to securing raises for faculty and staff and will be “supporting the effort announced by the State Regents to seek a $37.8 million appropriation from the legislature in the upcoming session for salary increases.”
“This is a really important priority to us and we want to get faculty and staff in line with other universities that we compete with,” he said.
In an email Friday to employees obtained by The Oklahoman, Weaver said “changed financial conditions” would prevent the university from proceeding with the raises.
“In June, we announced our desire to grant a 2.5 percent merit-based raise program as part of a multi-year initiative aimed at bringing faculty and staff compensation more in-line with regional averages,” he said.
“We are hopeful the picture will change in the coming months where
we can implement a merit-based raise program at the beginning of the next fiscal year on July 1, 2019, to recognize the important contributions of faculty and staff to Oklahoma State.”
Low pay for faculty and staff is an issue throughout the state’s 25 public colleges and universities. Many have implemented tuition and fee hikes to provide pay increases.
Among them is OSU, which raised tuition and fees on the Stillwater and Tulsa campuses by 3.2 percent this year. OSU’s budget included a 2.5 percent raise for faculty and staff, effective Jan. 1.
Last week, the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents approved a $4.6 million pay raise for full-time faculty on the Norman campus, effective Jan. 1.
OU did not raise the cost of tuition and mandatory fees for 2018-19, the highest in the state at $9,062.50.