Poll Indicates Oklahoma Voters Want Higher Education to be Funding Priority

Higher education group, Oklahoma Tomorrow, is touting a poll that indicates Oklahoma voters want funding of colleges and universities to be a priority. According to the opinion survey, 94 percent of registered voters agree or strongly agree higher education is important to economic health. Seventy-five percent believe spending on higher education is a good investment.

“Support for a college degree extends across all party, ideological and demographic lines,” said Oklahoma Tomorrow CEO Devery Youngblood. “Voters understand proper funding for colleges and universities provides a chance for everyone to succeed.”

The poll was conducted in December by Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates. Youngblood understands that lawmakers must make important choices during a budget shortfall.

“Everyone knows legislators once again face a challenging budget situation,” Youngblood said. “But we hope lawmakers understand what their constituents already know: funding Oklahoma’s colleges and universities must be a top priority if we do not want to continue to rank among the worst in the nation for incarceration, healthcare and a skilled workforce.”


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  1. Rick, 29 March, 2017

    Higher education is important. Higher funding for it is questionable. Our top universities have unimaginable cash flow provided by state and federal government subsidies and grants, private endowments, industry research subsidies and grants, sports and university branding, tuitions based on what the market will bear rather than what the education is worth, and so much more. We need to take a real look at the finances versus the funding of our universities and colleges.

  2. castor, 29 March, 2017

    Perhaps Mr. Youngblood would favor us with some notion of where the money is going to come from. Or, alternatively, we could ask the nice folks at OSU to go plan some more of those trees that grow all the free stuff he wants.

  3. Brandon Dutcher, 29 March, 2017

    So that readers can make up their own minds, Oklahoma Tomorrow should release the poll questions and topline results. Just because something is “important” or “a good investment” doesn’t mean it’s a priority. Happily, though, we actually do have a survey which asks about priorities. SoonerPoll recently asked: “The legislature is trying to prioritize areas of state spending. Which of the following areas of spending would you prioritize as most important?” The clear winner was “K-12 schools” at 47 percent. “Roads and other transportation expenses” came in second at 20 percent, followed by “health care” (19 percent), “public safety” (9 percent), and “colleges and universities” (5 percent).

    http://soonerpoll.com/new-poll-finds-how-oklahomans-would-prioritize-state-spending/

  4. sky, 30 March, 2017

    Folks need to wise up. There is so much bloat in higher education…too many vice presidents of this and that…too many classes that are NOT important to a higher education…Wake UP??

  5. Richard Snyder, 31 March, 2017

    One question overlooked in this poll is: Has Higher Education done enough to reduce their administrative overhead and eliminate non-teaching faculty positions?

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