Dear OU Community,
At the University of Oklahoma, one of our most important responsibilities is ensuring that talented, driven students have the opportunity to earn an OU degree, regardless of their financial circumstances. We have worked relentlessly to make an OU education more affordable and accessible, continually looking for new ways to remove barriers that can stand between students and a college degree.
Today, I am excited to share the next major step in that work: OU Onward, a new scholarship that will put an OU education within reach for more Oklahoma families than ever before.
For generations, higher education has been central to the American Dream: the promise that talent, hard work, and determination can open doors to a better future. OU Onward builds on a longstanding commitment shared by the state of Oklahoma and OU to make that opportunity possible for more Oklahoma families.
More than three decades ago, the Oklahoma Legislature created Oklahoma’s Promise, which has since created a pathway to higher education for thousands of Oklahoma students. OU later built on that support to make an OU education even more affordable for Oklahoma’s Promise students by introducing Crimson Commitment, which covers tuition and average fees while allowing other available aid to help with expenses such as housing, food, and books.
That same commitment has driven our broader work to make OU more affordable for Oklahoma families. Over the past seven years, student aid has grown significantly faster than tuition, making a degree from OU more affordable today than it was seven years ago. During that time, need-based aid has increased 39%, scholarship support for resident undergraduates has increased 38%, and the average annual net tuition and fee cost for resident undergraduates has declined 20%.
Those efforts have changed lives. Yet even with this progress, we know there are still hardworking Oklahoma families for whom the cost of college can feel daunting.
OU Onward is our commitment to them.
Beginning in fall 2027, OU Onward will help cover tuition and average fees at OU for qualifying Oklahoma undergraduate students whose family adjusted gross income is between $60,000 and $75,000 and who are not eligible for Oklahoma’s Promise. As a last-dollar scholarship, OU Onward will cover the remaining cost of tuition and average fees after other applicable federal, state, and institutional aid has been applied.
Incoming freshmen may receive the scholarship for up to four years of undergraduate study, while incoming transfer students may receive it for up to three years. Importantly, this opportunity will not be limited to students entering OU in fall 2027. Current OU undergraduate students who meet the eligibility requirements also may qualify for OU Onward beginning next fall.
A degree from the University of Oklahoma can be life-changing. We know the opportunity to earn a college degree can alter the trajectory of a student’s life and their family’s future for generations. By putting that opportunity within reach for more Oklahomans, we are strengthening our state by preparing more talented Oklahomans to build their careers, support their families, and contribute to the communities they call home.
To learn more about eligibility and renewal requirements for the OU Onward scholarship, visit the OU Admissions and Recruitment website.
I am incredibly grateful to the many people across our university who have worked to make OU Onward possible and who continue to find new ways to expand educational opportunity for our students.
OU Onward is the next step in that work, and I cannot wait to see the lives that will be changed because of it.
Live On, University,
Joseph Harroz, Jr.
President
