I'm on a university server running PHP 4.3.9 and in order to allow my php files to access the oracle database running on the server the oracle and php sites tell me I have to compile PHP with the option --with-oracle[=DIR]. This is confusing because as far as I have found PHP pages are compiled when loaded, so how exactly am I supposed to implement a compiler option when there is no command to compile the php file?

The compile option is used when installing PHP, not on the individual PHP pages.

You will need to discuss with the systems administrator your requirements to connect to Oracle, as they will need to instal Oracle on the server, as well as recompile the PHP instal with the Oracle options.

If the uni already has Oracle installed and PHP compiled to use Oracle then your problems with connection lie in your code.