Oral Roberts U Makes Big Bounds in Paying Off Debts
Oral Roberts University has whittled its debt down to $5.3 million after reporting last year that it was $52.5 million in the hole.
Furthermore, the historically charismatic university in Tulsa, Okla., has received more to fuel projects and developments than it has to eliminate debt.
Last year, about half of a single $62 million donation given to ORU went toward eliminating the university's debt while $32 million was allocated toward "campus renovations, technology upgrades, academic enhancement, financial aid for new and returning students, marketing and operations."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
And while over 13,000 individuals have donated $19.6 million to the university since the launch of its "Renewing the Vision" campaign, the funds have all gone into ORU projects such as "establishing endowed scholarships, attracting and retaining quality faculty and staff, academic program upgrades, other campus improvements, and more."
For every dollar donated through the campaign, however, the ORU board of trustees has promised to give a dollar toward the remaining debt – up to $25 million.
"Renewing the Vision ... is about owing a debt to our people and owing a debt to our programs, besides owing a debt to the bank," ORU Interim President Dr. Ralph Fagin explained.
The increase in funds the university has received has also led to a six-percent salary increase for ORU faculty and staff, according to ORU's website.
"We wanted to send the message that we appreciate the faculty and staff," Fagin said. "We strive to appropriately remunerate good people and the objective is to attract and retain an excellent faculty and staff."
For more than a year, ORU has been trying to recover from the 2007 financial scandal that shook the institution and led to the resignation of its former president, Richard Roberts.
Roberts, son of the school's namesake founder, televangelist Oral Roberts, had resigned in November 2007 after he and his wife were accused of using university money for shopping sprees, home improvements and a stable of horses for their daughters at a time when ORU was more than $50 million in debt.
Three former ORU professors had filed suit early October 2007, claiming that they were forced out after uncovering financial and ethical wrongdoing by the school's former president and family. The suit was finally settled late October 2008 after a court-ordered mediation session, bringing to a close the scandal that engulfed the charismatic school.
Since then, ORU has become accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and earlier this year elected its next president, Dr. Mark Rutland, the current president of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla.
According to Southeastern, Rutland will serve as Southeastern's president until spring commencement on May 2 while a search committee combs for presidential candidates. Rutland will assume the presidency at ORU on July 1.
