What are the best colleges and universities in Oklahoma if you reward schools for making the best use of their limited resources? Academic Stewardship asks how effectively schools manage their financial and human resources to gain the influence that makes them academically excellent. Schools that are exemplary in Academic Stewardship are doing everything in their power to help students and faculty achieve their full potential.
Colleges and universities in Oklahoma deserve to be recognized when they do more with less. It’s impressive when a large wealthy school can spend money lavishly on expensive buildings and programs. But it’s even more impressive when a small school with limited means is able to train and inspire students that the larger wealthier schools tend to ignore.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities reported in late 2021 that almost 75 percent of higher-education professionals at US colleges and universities felt financial constraints prevented their schools from effectively attracting students. Distracted by the size and amenities of larger schools, prospective students tended especially to be overawed by the big research universities.
Oklahoma’s smaller colleges, especially its liberal arts colleges, need effective ways of communicating their value to a world that celebrates “bigger is better” and “you need the best.” Unfortunately, most college ranking companies, such as U.S. News & World Report, define “best” in a way that devalues schools with smaller budgets and fewer students even when these schools do remarkable work in advancing their students’ education. By and large, college rankings penalize schools that serve underserved populations.
Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell, who for years now has criticized conventional college rankings for misrepresenting what’s good and valuable in education, we decided to construct a new ranking metric that highlights those schools that do more with less. That metric—called the Academic Stewardship metric—takes away both the size and the wealth advantage of schools, and focuses instead on how well schools use the resources available to them to advance the education of their students.
As a metric, Academic Stewardship is defined by a precise mathematical formula, which can be found in our Academic Stewardship white paper. Measuring the Academic Stewardship of Oklahoma’s colleges requires measuring two forms of stewardship: 1) Stewardship of financial resources (using the money they have responsibility without waste) and 2) Stewardship of human resources (doing their best to help students, faculty, and administration to flourish). Together, these two types of stewardship form what we call Academic Stewardship. If you want to learn more about the factors involved in Academic Stewardship, click the more button below.
Academic Stewardship as so defined is connected to keeping tuition and other costs down, but it should not be confused with affordability or frugality. The schools that this metric ranks as exemplary academic stewards tend to be all over the map when it comes to tuition and other costs. At issue is the influence of schools given the financial and human resources they have on hand. If a school is going to charge more for tuition, then that needs to be reflected in the school having proportionately greater influence.
The benefits of attending a school with strong academic stewardship include:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/24
Oklahoma Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
18%
Student body
2K
Langston University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
71%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1200/25
Oklahoma City University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
73%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1225/27
University of Tulsa’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
56%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1114/21
Oral Roberts University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
40%
Student body
4K
Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
36%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
998/21
Northeastern State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
35%
Student body
12K
University of Central Oklahoma’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
72%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/26
University of Oklahoma’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
64%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/25
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
41%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
912/21
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Graduation
43%
Student body
1K
Mid-America Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
36%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/20
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
39%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/20
East Central University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
31%
Student body
4K
Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Less than half of the schools in Oklahoma are private schools. However, students who attend one these schools can expect a more intimate college experience, as each has a student population smaller than 4,000 students. The largest private school, the University of Tulsa, offers degrees in fields like education, criminal justice, and literature, with tuition fees around $41,000. The public schools tend to be more cost-friendly, with tuition ranging from $4,000 to $9,000 per year.
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The University of Oklahoma, the state’s largest public school, costs about $9,000 and serves over 24,000 students. Here, students can partake in competitive on-campus programs in fields like communications and social work, or pursue one of the 30 graduate degrees and certificates online. Oklahoma is also home to several religiously affiliated schools, like Oral Roberts University and Bacone College. Students hoping to pursue a career as a physician, physician’s assistant, or dentist may also want to consider earning their degree here as the state offers several loan forgiveness programs to those who qualify.
The state of Oklahoma is serious about its food - so serious they even declared an official state meal, which consists of fried okra, cornbread, barbecue pork, squash, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, black-eyed peas, and pecan pie. Those hoping to feed both their bellies and their minds can attend one of Oklahoma’s more than 40 colleges and universities.
To learn more about earning your degree in Oklahoma, check out some of the state’s top programs.