Answers to many common questions about the Sooner Works program can be found below.
Sooner Works is a four-year residential college program.
We work very hard to keep the cost of attending Sooner Works competitive with traditionally enrolled students. Costs for housing and meals fluctuate based on student's dorm selection. Residents of Oklahoma can expect to pay about $27,000 a year, including OU tuition and fees, housing, meals, and the Sooner Works program fee. Non-residents can expect to pay about $40,000 a year.
Sooner Works is a Certified Transition Program (CTP) by the US Department of Education, which allows participants to be eligible for some components of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is based upon financial need. This includes Pell Grants and work-study programs, but it unfortunately does not include student loans. Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation clients who qualify may receive additional funding. Students are also eligible for some scholarships through the OU Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education and are encouraged to apply for outside scholarships, such as Ruby’s Rainbow or Organization for Autism Research. ThinkCollege.net is also an excellent resource for pursuing available funding sources.
Students live in the residential colleges (Dunham and Headington) during their freshmen year. After their first year, students have the option to live anywhere on campus (ex. Walker, Couch) or off-campus Housing. Sooner Works does not coordinate any off-campus housing, so those arrangements will need to be made completely by the student and their family.
Students in Sooner Works are not able to access via college through general admissions. As such, current degree-seeking students at OU are not eligible for our program. Degree-seeking students with disabilities are encouraged to register with the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center. The Zarrow Institute on Transition and Self-Determination launched SPARK360o in the fall of 2023 specifically for degree-seeking students with autism.
If you have further questions about admissions or eligibility that were not answered on this website, please reach out to Dr. Anna Barritt at soonerworks@ou.edu.
If you are a campus or community orgnaization/business and are interested in hosting interns from the Sooner Works program, please contact Torrea Peterson at tpeterson@ou.edu.
For all other Sooner Works inquiries, please email soonerworks@ou.edu.
