<p>Does anyone know who actually supports the 12th university, aside from JD Alexander? Is there some grassroots demand for it? From my perspective, it seems like virtually everyone thinks it’s a bad idea, aside from a few large Lakeland-area property owners.</p>
<p>SweetheartCroc, you pretty much said what I understand- aside from JD Alexander, no one wants the new university. </p>
<p>I would need to go through the state budget, but I am sure that many people in our wonderful legislature only support it because JD promised them earmarks or something if they supported the Florida Poly move.</p>
<p>I really do hope that Governor Scott vetoes the budget. He’s already about as unpopular as possible- it’s clear that unless a miracle happens, he’s a one-term governor. Why not actually do what makes sense and not what your cronies want?</p>
<p>“I am supportive of Polytech becoming an independent university. This is, in part, because I do not endorse the branch-campus model of research universities,” Machen said in a statement. </p>
<p>UF president Bernie Machen is supportive of an independent Florida Poly 12th state university. He said so himself. I’m pretty sure it is even written right into the Florida Poly bill that UF will be an advisor to the new university, not USF.</p>
<p>Call me crazy, but I think there has possibly been some backroom dealings done already that Florida Poly will eventually become part of UF after things implode in Lakeland after a couple of years with the new setup. Machen has said he doesn’t believe in branch campuses for research universities, but he is always trying to find ways to raise more money and expand UF, operating a UF branch in Lakeland in the I-4 corridor with 30,000 tuition paying students would be a coup for UF. Maybe JD is not really the brains behind this whole Florida Poly deal, maybe JD is just the front man for a grand scheme really being orchestrated out of UF’s Tigert Hall. I know this is a crazy scenario, but it makes as much sense to me as any other explanation for Florida Folly.</p>
<p>[UF</a> Pres says he’d be “willing to help” USF Poly’s independence transition | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“Florida Politics”>Florida Politics)</p>
<p>It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that a UF alum and grandson of Ben Hill Griffin would be so in favor of what seems like an otherwise terrible idea simply because UF has this thought process of “well, in a few years when they are struggling, we can take over Florida Poly and name it UF-Lakeland”</p>
<p>I don’t see why UF would even want it. Bigger is not necessarily better. Bernie Machen is obsessed with UF’s graduation rate. Taking over what will likely become a middling, commuter college is unlikely to help him achieve his goal.</p>
<p>^I’m just trying to come up with a logical explanation for the urgency of starting the independent Florida Poly right now when money is so tight for the state. It seems the only true reason is so JD Alexander can feather his own nest and line his own pockets with taxpayers’ money.</p>
<p>[Legislators</a> should demand better on higher ed - Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1219063.ece]Legislators”>http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1219063.ece)</p>
<p>Email from Dr. Barron:</p>
<p>Dear Friends:</p>
<p>I would like to invite you to a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, March 13th starting at 10:30. I anticipate that the presentation and questions might be about 90 minutes, but I will keep my calendar open until 12:30 pm so that interested faculty and staff can ask questions. I propose to open the meeting with a discussion of two major topics.</p>
<p>First, we have been working hard on many “big ideas” for the University so that we are aggressive in preparing for a stronger State economy and also so that we can have a successful fund-raising campaign. We have had a large number of “test” presentations with our alumni around the country, and had a large number of other discussions, including a lengthy briefing and discussion at a Faculty Senate meeting. We are almost finished developing detailed fund-raising goals behind each theme and the Deans and I will be meeting to discuss prioritizing the ideas as a part of a phased effort to attract funds for all of the ideas. I would like to give you an overview of these ideas and to get your feedback.</p>
<p>Second, I will update the faculty and staff on the legislative session. There is a great deal that impacts the University System, but the most significant are budget issues. The House and Senate agreed to a one-time cut (non-recurring as long as they cover it next year as promised) rather than a recurring cut. The total was $300M. The big challenge was how to divide up the $300M among the eleven universities. In the past, all cuts have been based on the size of the university (budget or student numbers), but in this case, they largely did it based on carry-forward, essentially punishing the universities that have been frugal and have planned for a bad budget year and rewards those who were not so careful. FSU had the largest carry-forward and we were dinged $65M. Most of our carry-forward has a real purpose, but under Florida law if it isn’t under contract or spent then it is carry-forward. Every university is howling that the cuts are far too great. Obviously, I agree. But, I think this is one case where the approach is bad business - it promotes a mindset that could have every university spending down their budgets at the end of the year, even if it means buying truckloads of pencils, rather than act responsibly to manage for downturns. On a truly positive note, the House and the Senate also passed a pre-eminence bill that would enable UF and FSU (and other universities that reach specific benchmarks) to go above the 15% cap on tuition if we meet benchmarks and can make the case to our Trustees and the Board of Governors. It will now go to the Governor. This is a big deal, and may have considerable positive impact on FSU. I will talk about this more during the Town Hall.</p>
<p>I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday. If this Town Hall meeting works, and faculty and staff are interested, then I will set up a second Town Hall meeting to ensure that all interested parties have a chance to hear the proposals and issues and to ask questions. I will look forward to this opportunity to interact.</p>
<p>Best, Eric</p>
<p>Looks like there is a petition going around:</p>
<p>“Stop proposed cuts to higher education, including Florida State University, and do not penalize institutions for saving funds.”</p>
<p>[SignOn.org</a> Beta - Higher Education is OUR FUTURE and FLORIDA’s FUTURE](<a href=“http://signon.org/sign/higher-education-is-our?source=mo&id=36778-19143707-Fe_Sqxx]SignOn.org”>http://signon.org/sign/higher-education-is-our?source=mo&id=36778-19143707-Fe_Sqxx)</p>
<p>FSU is a day late and 65.8 million dollars short doing petitions and letter writing this late. It is probably though not to early to contact legislators to remind them not to expect to grab FSU’s carry-forward reserves next year like they are this year. The House and Senate agreed to a one-time cut (non-recurring as long as they cover it next year as promised) rather than a recurring cut.</p>
<p>I don’t think the bill has been signed into law yet by Gov. Scott. I think the same bill includes the new university. I don’t think it’s impossible that he would oppose the school, or at least delay the new school for a while and reallocate some of that money.</p>
<p>In case no one noticed, the country is broke. We are running massive deficits.</p>
<p>FSU charges a tuition that is very low, even compared to other state universities in other states.</p>
<p>While I like low tuition (my son got into UF), I am not sure that it is the job of the taxpayers to subsidize the education of FSU students, many of whom are from upper middle class families.</p>
<p>If the upper middle class is not going to pay their own way, then who is?</p>
<p>There is no doubt that the cost of college can be reduced by changing the way we do things. </p>
<p>Example—why do we need to sit and listen to a live person at FSU teach on the subject of the origins of the American Revolution, when you can watch, on tape, without even travelling to campus, a lecture by the most brilliant Harvard professor on that subject. Time spent “in class” could be significantly reduced and streamlined.</p>
<p>Florida schools as a whole charge way less than average for tuition. That’s sort of what the bill passed a few years ago about raising tuition 15% per year until Florida as a whole was much closer to the national average was all about “fixing.”</p>
<p>The problem though is that as costs to attend Florida schools continues to increase and scholarships like Bright Futures are continually cut back, the students that once would have stayed in the state due to the low costs and rather generous scholarships available are going to start heading out of state- which is what Bright Futures was originally intended to help prevent.</p>
<p>Hell, I’ve said since I made my decisions to attend FSU that Bright Futures was literally the only thing that kept me in the state. After it was just way back just prior to my freshman year, I still stayed simply because transferring to an out of state school was rather problematic for me.</p>
<p>FD, It is a responsibility of taxpayers to financially support public schools. It is not the job of taxpayers to subsidize private schools. Practice what you preach; either send your son to a private school, or pay UF full market-rate (out-of-state) tuition. Watch on TV the brilliant Harvard professor next time he lectures about Horace Mann and public education.</p>
<p>Rising tuition is a nationwide phenomon, not just a Florida-specific issue.</p>
<p>To understand what is happening, just follow the trajectory of Baby Boomers, who are by far the most powerful demographic cohort in this country. They have finished with college, and most of their children have as well. Suddenly, they don’t see why they need to pay so much for higher education, even though their own generation enjoyed very affordable education. Their primary concerns are things like social security, medicare and low taxes (i.e. shifting the financial burden away from themselves). It is now politically easier to cut higher education than it is to cut other programs. </p>
<p>Higher education is now being dismissed as a “snobby” extravagance, even though employers are having to hire thousands of H1Bs to make up for the lack of skilled workers in this country and many low-skilled jobs are headed overseas. In my opinion, this is nothing more than a post hoc rationalization to justify the fact that the baby boomers lived off the fat of the land that their parents created for many years and are they now sticking their grandchildren with the bill. </p>
<p>If that seems inflammatory, take some Ibuprofen.</p>
<p>That being said, I am a practical person and I am willing to pay higher tuition in exchange for a better education and a degree that carries a bit more weight outside of Florida, as long as it isn’t a huge increase in one year. </p>
<p>However, this thread is not about the UF/FSU market rate bill. This is about the budget cut that disproportionately affects FSU relative to other schools. JD Alexander is basically rewarding bad behavior and punishing frugality for the sake of convenience, not too mention creating a totally unnecessary 12th university that will ultimately cost taxpayers a lot of money. If Gov. Scott goes along with this, I will have to conclude that JD Alexander must have photos of him, and others, doing something really embarrassing. There is no other explanation for how this one man has been able to browbeat the entire senate into doing his bidding.</p>
<p>It’s not too late to contact Gov. Rick Scott to tell him to veto approval of Poly split now. According to his staffers, Scott hasn’t received one email yet in support of the split: every email has been against! Please email him or phone his office now and tell him to veto Poly split–time is running out. Phone today 850 488-7146 or email>>> [Email</a> the Governor](<a href=“http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor/]Email”>Email the Governor)</p>
<p>[More</a> than 100 emails pour into Scott’s office on Poly split – all opposed | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/more-100-emails-pour-scotts-office-poly-split-all-opposed]More”>Florida Politics)</p>
<p>State Senator Paula Dockery from Lakeland gives her opinion, in newspaper article, on who is behind push for 12th university in Lakeland. (Gov. Scott should sign or veto, this coming week, the bill creating a 12th Florida public university.)</p>
<p>[The</a> man behind the curtain | Hernando Today](<a href=“http://www2.hernandotoday.com/news/hernando-news/2012/mar/22/the-man-behind-the-curtain-ar-384066/]The”>http://www2.hernandotoday.com/news/hernando-news/2012/mar/22/the-man-behind-the-curtain-ar-384066/)</p>
<p>Sweet Croc I agree with your above post #34; politicians don’t really care now about young people and funding things like higher education. Politicians know the over 55 age group and folks like the retirees in places like Florida’s “The Villages” are who vote…the politicians cater to them. With politicians now: “Money flows not to helping the young grow up, but helping the old die comfortably.”</p>
<p>[Young</a> People in the Recession - The War Against Youth - Esquire](<a href=“http://www.esquire.com/features/young-people-in-the-recession-0412]Young”>Young People in the Recession - The War Against Youth)</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more with FloridaDad55-- let’s have UF as well as the other
pathetic State U’s in Florida purchase web based coursework and serve it up to
our sons and daughters. It is time that the citizens of the State got what they
paid for-- a nationally recognized 3rd world university system. </p>
<p>Dad-- your kid is going to UF Wow! My daughter, while accepted to UFlorida, is
going out of State to a fine LAC in the Northeast. I’m paying to not have her
subjected to the pathetic butts in seats, diploma mill system that you and your
buddies in the legislature wish to serve up to our children. </p>
<p>Think about it, when you live in a State with beaches on 3 our of 4 sides of it, who
really needs an education?? LOL</p>
<p>.02 David</p>