OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) — Oklahoma higher education leaders say a new performance funding formula and 90-hour bachelor’s degree framework are part of a broader shift to strengthen the state system’s focus on student success, workforce alignment, and long-term economic competitiveness.
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved revisions to the state system’s performance funding formula May 29. The updated formula reflects the Regents’ Blueprint 2030 strategic plan and is designed to more closely connect state appropriations with student access, student success, workforce needs, and state priorities.
Beginning in fiscal year 2027, a share of institutional base funding will be allocated through the new model. That share will increase in annual increments until it reaches 25% of institutional base funding.
The formula includes four major components: enrollment, which accounts for 25%; retention and success, which accounts for 30%; opportunity, which accounts for 20%; and workforce, which accounts for 25%.
The enrollment component recognizes institutional access for traditional and adult learners with varying economic and academic backgrounds. The retention and success component emphasizes student progression and completion. The opportunity component focuses on completion outcomes for priority student populations, including adult, Pell-eligible, and academically underprepared students. The workforce component aligns funding with measures such as degree completion in STEM and other critical occupations, employment of graduates, and wages.
Regent Courtney Warmington, chair of the State Regents, said Oklahoma has had a performance funding formula in the past, but it was not structured in a way that meaningfully shaped institutional priorities.
“For years, our state has had, in theory, a performance funding formula,” Warmington said. “I say ‘in theory’ because the reality is very little money was ever flowing through it. Some years, no money was flowing through it. It was such a complicated formula that it was difficult to describe, let alone actually be something useful to our institutions.”
Warmington said the new model is intended to give colleges and universities clearer expectations and stronger incentives.
“If we’re going to ask our institutions to do certain things and focus on certain issues in our state, we need to be clear about what those things are,” Warmington said. “We ought to incentivize them to do it, and we ought to reward them when they do it.”
The formula was developed by the State Regents’ Performance Funding Formula Committee in consultation with HCM Strategists, a national higher education policy and finance consulting firm. The committee reviewed national best practices in higher education finance and performance funding structures while considering institutional mission differences, employer demand, and outcome-based funding metrics.
Warmington said the process was not divisive, but it was detailed and complex.
“It took a little over two years and some pretty regular meetings of our group to try to hash out what a good performance funding formula would really look like,” Warmington said.
The model uses a peer-sector allocation methodology designed to account for the different missions, structures, and operating environments of research universities, regional universities, and two-year institutions. Warmington said the Regents also had to address issues such as funding tiers, annual phase-in levels, hold harmless provisions, and stop-loss provisions.
“I would not say it was divisive, but I would say that it was complex and took a lot of time and a lot of discussion,” Warmington said.
Warmington said the formula reflects a broader message about the direction of Oklahoma higher education.
“We’re going to use every tool in our toolbox to try to meet the workforce needs of our state,” she said.
For higher education institutions, that means focusing on more than enrollment. Warmington said enrollment remains important, but the new formula also asks whether students are staying in school, succeeding, and completing degrees tied to critical workforce needs.
“It’s not enough just to get them in the door,” Warmington said. “We really have to focus on how do we help them go all the way through, retain them as students, and get them graduated into our critical workforce need areas.”
Chancellor Sean Burrage said the new funding model reflects the Regents’ view that higher education must serve as a workforce engine for Oklahoma.
“When I was hired 18 months ago for this job, this board made it very clear to me that our job in higher education, from their perspective, was to meet the workforce needs of the state of Oklahoma,” Burrage said. “Along the way, we get to do a lot of really cool things. We have a lot of really cool programs. But we are to be the workforce engine of Oklahoma.”
Burrage said Oklahoma’s bachelor’s degree attainment rate remains below the national average, which can affect the state’s ability to attract and grow businesses.
“You look at a place like Oklahoma where 29% of the state has a bachelor’s degree,” Burrage said. “That sounds OK until you realize that the national average is 37%.”
He said that gap matters when economic development leaders are working to recruit companies or encourage business expansion.
“When the State Chamber is out courting businesses to look at Oklahoma, place a business here, or expand a business here, that’s one of the statistics they look at,” Burrage said.
The State Regents also allocated fiscal year 2027 state appropriations for the higher education system. The system received $15.7 million in new state appropriations, a 1.4% increase over fiscal year 2026. That included an additional $10 million for Oklahoma’s Promise and $4.7 million for the Oklahoma Rising Scholars Award program.
“We thank our legislators and Gov. Stitt for investing in Oklahoma’s future,” Burrage said in the State Regents’ announcement. “Public higher education’s FY27 budget advances the priorities outlined in our Blueprint 2030 strategic plan — to grow the student pipeline and produce workforce-ready graduates to meet changing marketplace needs.”
Institutional operating allocations for fiscal year 2027 include continued targeted investments in campus-based workforce development initiatives in high-demand fields such as engineering, computer science, data analytics, and nursing.
In fiscal year 2026, the State Regents allocated $11.5 million to public colleges and universities from funds designated to incentivize increased production of STEM and health care graduates. Those funds were allocated with the understanding that, after three years, they could be reallocated based on credit hour production and degrees conferred in critical occupations. The funds have been allocated for year two of three in fiscal year 2027 and remain at risk based on degree production over the next two academic years.
Alongside performance funding, the Regents also approved a policy framework that allows institutions to propose 90-hour bachelor’s degree programs. Burrage and Warmington both emphasized the Regents have not approved any specific 90-hour degree programs. Instead, they approved the process institutions must follow if they want to bring proposals forward.
“To be clear, the State Regents haven’t approved any 90-hour degrees,” Burrage said. “What they have approved is a policy by which institutions can come forward and make proposals for 90-hour degrees.”
Burrage said any proposed 90-hour degree would need to show workforce need and academic rigor.
“It’s a very rigorous policy,” Burrage said. “It has to show that there’s a workforce need and that it has the same academic rigor.”
Warmington said the 90-hour degree discussion is not about creating a faster or easier credential. Instead, it is about asking whether some fields may need more than a 60-hour associate degree but not necessarily a traditional 120-hour bachelor’s degree.
“This is not intended to be a way to just have a faster, cheaper, easier program,” Warmington said. “It’s not intended to replace the traditional four-year bachelor’s degree.”
She said 90-hour degrees will not work for every program, and institutions will have the responsibility to show that any proposal meets the Regents’ standards.
“It will be up to the institution to show us that it is just as rigorous as any other program,” Warmington said. “We won’t shorten the rigor or relax our standards of rigor because that’s not doing anybody a good service.”
Warmington said the business community may want students to complete programs faster, but only if those graduates are prepared.
“The business community wants people, of course, to come out quicker if possible, but the point is they have to be well prepared,” Warmington said.
Burrage said the 90-hour framework is part of a broader effort to make higher education more responsive to workforce demand.
“This is really about building the economy in Oklahoma,” Burrage said. “This is not about compromising academic integrity, academic rigor. In fact, we’re going to work hard to make sure none of those things happen.”
Burrage said some higher education leaders have raised concerns about the changes, especially because 90-hour degrees could challenge long-standing academic and financial models.
“Higher education doesn’t like to change things,” Burrage said. “It could be a challenge to the financial model.”
He said two-year and four-year institutions may view the proposal differently. Some four-year institutions may worry about losing a year of student enrollment, while some two-year institutions may worry about how the new model could affect associate degree pathways.
Burrage said the Regents have tried to address uncertainty through transparency.
“Not everybody probably agrees with the way Chair Warmington or I have led on this issue, but they can’t say we didn’t tell them exactly what we were doing and when we did it,” Burrage said. “There’s been no hide-the-ball.”
Warmington said the Regents are also open to feedback and revisions as both the performance funding model and 90-hour degree framework move forward.
“We’re open to revision,” Warmington said. “We’re open to some trial and error. And we’re open to doing hard things, even if we don’t exactly know how they’re going to turn out in the end because that’s our job.”
Warmington said the Regents plan to review the performance funding formula annually and may make adjustments over time. She said the same could be true for the 90-hour degree policy.
“We’re going to do the hard things,” Warmington said. “This board is not afraid to tackle any hard issue if it’s one that we need to talk about and think about.”
For Burrage, success means more Oklahomans earning degrees connected to the state’s economic needs.
“To me, success looks like more Oklahomans with college degrees that really matter,” Burrage said. “College degrees that drive Oklahoma’s economy forward.”
He said the Regents’ systemwide role allows them to focus on all students and the broader state economy rather than advancing one institution over another.
“What I love about this job is every time an issue comes before this board, I try to frame it up by asking a couple questions: What’s in the best interest of the student, and in turn, what’s in the best interest of the state’s economy?” Burrage said.
Warmington said success also means helping Oklahoma build a more highly educated workforce, improve quality of life, and become more attractive for business investment.
“The more highly educated workforce you have, the better every outcome is,” Warmington said. “Not just income level, health metrics, quality of life — every metric goes up in the state, the more highly educated workforce you have.”
Warmington said the changes are also intended to demonstrate to policymakers that higher education is willing to innovate, respond to state needs, and show results.
“My hope and desire is that more money flows to the institutions because I think we are able to, more and more each year, show the Legislature why we are worth the investment and why we are worth greater investment,” Warmington said.
She said the Regents’ work over the past several years has been aimed at improving outcomes for students, families, the workforce, and the state.
“We’ve listened. We’ve tried to be innovative,” Warmington said. “We’ve done a lot of new things, and it’s all designed to make lives better for our state and our workforce, but also to show the Legislature why we are worthy of continued investment.”
