<p>Under a state law passed last year, only FSU and UF qualify at the top tier, called "Funding Level 1".</p>
<p>TALLAHASSEE --
Students headed to three of Florida's largest, most prestigious universities this fall could face an additional tuition charge of about $180 a year that wouldn't be covered by Bright Futures scholarships under a plan the state Senate approved in a 28-10 vote.</p>
<p>The legislation would mark the first time since the popular program was established that students feel the impact of a tuition increase without the shield of Bright Futures.</p>
<p>The extra tuition would be charged at the University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of South Florida. The three universities would be allowed to raise tuition by 10 percent this fall above the Legislature's expected hike of 5 percent.
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Last year, the Legislature established tiers that classify universities based on their research and academic quality. The bill that passed Friday uses those classifications to determine who can charge more: top schools, which now includes UF and FSU, could assess an extra charge up to 40 percent of the base tuition. The second level can charge up to 30 percent of tuition. That now includes just USF, but may soon apply to the University of Central Florida and Florida International University.</p>
<p>I am glad to see that current holders of prepaid tuition will not be subject to this fee. This is a fair solution that upholds the contract with the current prepaid plan holders and still allows the universities to gain additional funding they desire.</p>
<p>I have been the minority opinion on this issue, it would seem that tuition being 40% higher in 3 years isn't a concern. To me it creates two specific problems. One it dramatically raises cost over four years for future students, two by increasing prestige it invites greater applications and competition from non Florida applicants. I believe the University knows this and beyond the increase in research money, tuition payments from non Florida State kids also go up.</p>
<p>I think in the end the outcome for Florida kids is upper tier schools that are more expensive, become even more selective and more unreachable by more of the kids.</p>
<p>The other side wants the top universities in FL to be nationally competitive. That's not cheap. A de facto tiering system, which this creates if it becomes law, is a way to achieve order from the current "trough" system. The best public universities nationally have tiers. The systems with troughs have many mediocre universities. There's not enough money for all to be at the top, even in states like CA which devote lots of dollars to their public universities.</p>