<p>Any opinions on Florida Polytechnic University? The newest state university in Florida.</p>
<p>A very strange situation…</p>
<p>The main building is still under construction(the $134 million Innovation, Science and Technology building), and they are pushing for a fall 2014 launch. The school won’t be accredited until it graduates its first class, likely in 2016. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the are trying to raise 8 or 9 million dollars, so everyone can be offered a scholarship (no tuition for at least the first year), as a way to recruit that first class. </p>
<p>If you want to major in STEM (Engineering, etc), but also want a small school feel (which is NOT what you get at UF, UCF and USF), and have it be affordable, this may be an option. Could be fun to do the tour, I’m sure it’s the only one that would require a hard hat. :)</p>
<p>Don’t forget, if you don’t like it after a year or two, you can transfer…but you would lose any freshmen scholarships.</p>
<p>From Poly’s website (and what do we call them, Poly?), details on the scholarships:</p>
<p>»What exactly does Florida Poly’s free tuition incentive cover?
We’ll be giving our first class annual scholarships to help offset the cost of tuition. Students will receive $5000 for the first three years, which covers tuition and fees. During the fourth year, students will receive $3200 to cover tuition.</p>
<p>»What are the admissions requirements?
Florida Poly is looking for students with a 3.0 GPA who have ranked in the top half of their class. SAT scores over 550 on each section or ACT scores over 22 are also required.</p>
<p>=======================</p>
<p>So, if you’re a 1650+ SAT/23+ ACT student, it’s not a bad deal for in-state.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go near Florida Poly with a ten foot pole. It’s a boondoggle, it’s not accredited, students can’t get federal financial aid…the place stinks to high heaven.</p>
<p>Can’t transfer credits from an unaccredited college like Florida Poly to an accredited college as far as I know. Doubt a future graduate from unaccredited Florida Poly could get into graduate school either. Graduates from Florida Poly probably would only be able to get jobs in Polk county with sympathetic local employers…that’s assuming Florida Poly ever opens and actually enrolls real students and they graduate.</p>
<p>The accreditation is diffently a problem, especially for engineering programs (who need to be ABET accredited). The legislation includes certain benchmarks to be achieved by Dec. 31, 2016, including achieve accreditation from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.</p>
<p>The school will open (the State is commited to it now…), and I’m sure that credits can be transfered to the other 12 schools within the State University System of Florida system. </p>
<p>However, I don’t want to belittle the risk with attending Poly. I think they recently hired the FIRST professor, so they have a long ways to go. At this point, everything (other than the University’s “Innovation, Science and Technology Building” which “should” be done by June 2014…two months before the start of classes…) is “proposed” and not yet in place.</p>
<p>Haven’t even heard of this university…Where is it?</p>
<p>If you’re going into engineering, don’t go to this school.</p>
<p>Just applied to this school…hearing arguments about the accreditation; one must realize that accreditation process is a timely process. To the accreditation critics: accreditation is an ‘industry in itself’; in otherwords, a school can have a quality education and not be accredited - I like seeing accreditation as insurance to employers because accreditation is synonymous to the state Dept. of Education’s school approval - all tying to employment (and not necessarily the education itself). What would make this school standout from the others is this: bylaws! This school is only going to be successful by its bylaws - especially if the school is going for non-tenure.</p>
<p>Sure accreditation is a “timely process”, but are you going to tell your future employer that if they are not accredited by the time you get your degree?</p>
<p>I doubt Florida Poly will ever even open and teach students. This whole Florida Poly deal is a scandal. 4 accepted people have actually put down deposits to enroll at the school. Florida Poly will probably end up being folded into one of the other already established Florida public universities or colleges. I’m betting University of Florida will end up with the Lakeland school as a UF satellite campus…it won’t be folded back into USF. UF is built out in Gainesville…Lakeland would allow UF to expand and get extra revenue for its till.</p>
<p>[Students</a> willing to take plunge with under-construction Poly](<a href=“http://tbo.com/news/education/students-willing-to-take-plunge-with-under-construction-poly-20131110/]Students”>http://tbo.com/news/education/students-willing-to-take-plunge-with-under-construction-poly-20131110/)</p>
<p>They shouldn’t have too much issue with recruiting 500 students, especially with the scholarships. I would think the faculty and buildings would be the bigger issue. </p>
<p>It will NOT become part of UF, way too much politics to overcome. Both UCF and USF would howl if UF setup a remote ENGINEERING campus in Lakeland.</p>
<p>Politics created Florida Poly over the vigorous objections of USF and UCF. The legislature, governor, and other influential big hitters screwed this one up and painted Florida Poly into a corner that it can not get out of by itself. Florida Poly will end up merged into UF…that’s political reality in Florida.</p>
<p>As long as it’s eaten up by UF after I’ve graduated. </p>
<p>If UF does take it up, man, UF will be a power house. The effects of this will be great.</p>
<p>UF has some satellite facilities, but these are not for undergrads. The State decided long ago not to go with UF-Jacksonville, UF-Tampa, UF-Orlando…etc. In 1980, there was a legislative effort to merge UNF with the UF but a bill proposing this was vetoed by Governor Bob Graham (a Gator grad). The other Universities (and their supporters) simply do not want a competing UF campus in their backyard. </p>
<p>Poly will have enough $ to get up and running. The only question is how successful it will be in the long run. Poly doesn’t have to be another UCF or USF, but more like New College of Florida…small and quirky and perhaps as respected.</p>
<p>The rules are different in Florida now…there are no set rules with Florida public higher education…anything can happen. Time will tell what eventually happens with Florida Poly…nothing would surprise me. Personally I think Florida Poly should be merged back into USF.</p>
<p>Florida Poly isn’t getting merged with anything. It will be a standalone university. There is a set vision for it. There is no need to put a deposit lizard because tuition is currently free for the first class.</p>
<p>Florida Poly estimates it will cost a Florida resident fulltime undergraduate student over $19,000 in expenses for two semesters of study at Florida Poly. If the school absorbs the approx. $5000 for tuition and fees for two semesters, how will students pay the difference of over $14,000/year without the school offering federal financial aid including federal grants, federal loans, and federal work study…personal credit cards? I think it is a scam expecting students to pay this kind of money to attend an unaccredited college.</p>
<p>[STEM</a> Education Starts Here - Be the Next | Florida Polytechnic University](<a href=“Undergraduate & Graduate STEM Degrees | Florida Polytechnic University”>Undergraduate & Graduate STEM Degrees | Florida Polytechnic University)</p>
<p>Wait…how can they have campus tours when they don’t have a campus??</p>
<p>And…what about the dorms? “Downtown is your dining hall?” Is there a dining hall?</p>
<p>The campus is huge. They know students half to walk around that large water thing right?</p>
<p>Like this sounds like a great idea…but I want to see this come together.</p>
<p>lizard, the cost of going to Poly is about the same as any other University in the Florida System, except Tuition is being paid by the college for the first class. It’s not a scam. You may not feel it’s worth the expense (being unproven and initially unaccredited), but that’s a value judgment, hardly a “scam”.</p>
<p>This isn’t much different from the first class at UCF, USF, UNF, UWF or FGCU. Each one had a first class before the campus was completed. FGCU held it’s first classes in Aug 1997, but didn’t complete it’s first dorm till Aug 1998.</p>
<p>Initially, Poly is going to be a commuter school (as were many of the above), until dorms and dining has been completed. I expect it’s growth will follow the above colleges examples. For example, UNF had it’s first class in 1972, first graduated students in 1973 (35 folks) and was accredited in 1974. Any freshmen going to Poly should expect the school to be accredited before they graduate.</p>
<p>Of course, there is going to be a LOT of good reasons to pass on Poly and go to a more established state university, but for some, Poly may make sense.</p>
<p>Florida Poly might appeal to local Lakeland residents who can get the free tuition and commute from parents’ homes and not have food, housing, and other similar type expenses. I don’t see out of area students flocking to Lakeland to attend the school with no proven track record and no accreditation. Out of area students might attend if they have wealthy parents who can help pay their child’s living expenses and other costs of attendance expenses, poorer students can’t get any federal aid at Florida Poly.</p>
<p>There are no guarantees the school will be accredited by the time the first class of students graduate…the accreditation process could take 4-6 years, if ever accredited. Florida Poly is going to have a difficult start with no credit, and no federal aid. Students can’t get federal aid, and professors can’t get federal grants for research. Florida Poly can’t even borrow money for loans or bonding to build improvements on the campus, because the school has no revenue from things like tuition which it is not collecting now. The school is entirely dependent on the whims of the Florida legislature for funding…if the legislature turns off Florida Poly’s funding faucet, the school won’t be able to operate.</p>