<p>^ I honestly don't know.</p>
<p>A few years back UF remodeled a couple of Dorms.</p>
<p>^ Look at "thelover" previous posts.</p>
<p>He is in fact an FSU Troll.</p>
<p>And? I wouldn't exactly say you provide a fair representation of UF either SSobick.</p>
<p>North Hall received new windows over the summer. Of course they took all the land line phones out of the dorms. Only RAs have them, which is to save money. As a parent, this pains me--S cell phone broke in October.</p>
<p>most of the dorm rooms are fine...only really picky/spoiled people complain</p>
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[quote]
we visited several Florida universities and clearly UF does not seem to be doing as much new construction/renovation as many of the other universities.</p>
<p>it could be that the fascilities at UF are really good (dorms updated, classrooms not over crowded etc) and don't require any updating and improvement. during our two visits to the UF campus, it seemed to be really nice, but in all honesty we didn't see much of the inside of the buildings. the tour guide walked us around campus and pointed out buildings, but didn't take us into any of them. we later walked into some buildings on our own. the new rec center was really awesome, but when comparing the dorms and academic buildings with those we saw at other florida universities, it didn't seem to be as updated.
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<p>UF is the oldest university in FL and does not have the space to expand as the other universities (which are younger) do. Two of the dorms on campus are 101 years old. The other schools probably dont have dorms more than 30 years old. </p>
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and when i click on the links to read about major projects, nothing comes up. do you know what projects are under way? are more classrooms being added? are the dorms being updated or new ones built to accomodate the freshman class?
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<p>Well Pugh Hall was just completed. They are now adding in the landscape and stuff. Cancer/Genetics center finished last year. Nanoscience Center is still under construction. The new cancer hospital (with shands ER added in) just placed their last beam. </p>
<p>Again, you wont see much, if any, expansion with classrooms or dorms. Defiantly, no dorms. They is just no space to put it. If they build classrooms, then it will be somewhere off campus. Pugh hall has the new large lecture room (PUGH 170). </p>
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This is just the opposite. Most students rate the dorms as the worst among most schools in the country. Two of my friends that started lasted year decided to rent apartments as a result. Hopefully that will change, but it does not seem to be happening any time soon...
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<p>That's their choice. Their are many others that are on waiting list to get a room on campus.</p>
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This is just the opposite. Most students rate the dorms as the worst among most schools in the country. Two of my friends that started lasted year decided to rent apartments as a result. Hopefully that will change, but it does not seem to be happening any time soon...
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<p>That was to save ~$200,000 for the housing dept. Surveys showed the majority of residents (>90%) did not use the room phone. </p>
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The enrollment freeze that has been discussed is not being done to make the university more competitive like some people would like to make believe, but rather as a necessary measure to cope with the budget deficit and cuts. Sadly, there is not only an enrollment freeze but also a hiring freeze. Like Mr Machen emphasized, the freeze is “just not a game”.
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<p>Agree with this. </p>
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most of the dorm rooms are fine...only really picky/spoiled people complain
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<p>Well said. Thank you. </p>
<p>Also, dorms and housing should not be put in the same category as the other stuff UF is going through. The dept of housing is like the UAA and operates like a private company (even though the director reports to Machen). Housing gets most of its money through dorm fees the students pay. They dont get money from UF. The renovations are all played out of the housing depts funds. Housing is actively trying to update the dorms. They pick one or two dorms every summer and update it to the best of their abilities. Last summer they finished the renovations in the RYMAC area and redid the bathrooms in Thomas.</p>
<p>asmaj</p>
<p>thanks for the info. we did notice when visiting fsu that they have added two brand new dorms and renovated almost all of the older one's. they also gave up their popular campus swimming pool to build a state of the art academic classroom building. </p>
<p>Is UF the oldest University in florida? wikipedia says that FSU was established in 1851 and UF in 1853. i am sure wiki is wrong.</p>
<p>i guess what confuses me is that UF has so much money in its endowment and i just don't understand why the university isn't using more of it to hire more teachers and increase clasroom capacity.</p>
<p>the uf campus is very large and i am sure there is space to build some new classrooms , it seemed like a much larger land mass then FSU and somehow they have manageed to find room.</p>
<p>i suppose it really doesn't matter as long as the students are satisfied. it sure sounds like most UF students love the school and all it has to offer.</p>
<p>Sorry, you are right. FSU is older than UF.</p>
<p>UF is bordered by University Ave, so it can't expand that way. It also has a lot of green space, which would be a shame to fill up with big blocky buildings. I'd hate to see the old buildings (in spite of being old) get raized as well. The beautiful thing about UF is it's old Florida ambience- old oaks draped in spanish moss, the au-natural tropical foliage. It doesn't have the formal, sculpted look that most college campuses have (although I like that look as well)- it's more 'wild'. It's always hard to watch greenspace get taken up by high rises and parking lots, but progress is inevitable. The thing I love the most about UF is walking through campus and seeing live alligators and turtles in the ponds.</p>
<p>I'd be willing to give up some "green" space for more parking spaces. Parking is hell.</p>
<p>Charge more for FL residents and scale back Bright Futures. As an out of state students it sucks that my grossly overpriced education is getting cut so that FL residents can continue to receive insanely low tuitions rates and overly generous scholarships. Of course, if GA had a school with a better program in my major I'd be there taking advantage of the HOPE scholarship so I'm probably just bitter.</p>
<p>The only problem with that is the requirements for Bright Futures won't be lowered anytime soon. Not only does Florida need to continue the program to avoid a mass exodus to other states, but many of their public school students are too overloaded with FCAT mania to care about their GPA, SAT, etc. Because of this, the requirements in it are almost relatively HIGH!</p>
<p>"many of their public school students are too overloaded with FCAT mania to care about their GPA, SAT, etc."</p>
<p>I went to a large public high school and never experienced "FCAT mania." As long as you can read, do not have any learning disabilities or mental handicaps, and are fluent in English all you really have to do is show up...</p>
<p>^^ LOL, Amanda. I have to agree with your assessment of FCAT.</p>
<p>if bright futures scholarships were eliminated, the florida in state tuition is still a great deal relative to most other state universities and certainly a great deal relative to private institutions. </p>
<p>would that many kids (even high achievers) opt to leave the state if not for bright futures? If eliminated, would you encourage your child to leave the state (because it was no longer free) and pay much higher tuition then you would pay as an in state resident?</p>
<p>there aren't many places these days, where you can go to college (let alone a school that offers as much as UF, FSU, UCF USF etc), for 10K per year. </p>
<p>If they did away with bright futures, the universities might then be in a better position to offer more comprehensive merit and need based scholarships to those who deserve it and therefore will be able to compete for the high achieving students in florida. FSU for instance, still manages to offer some really nice merit scholarships despite the financial constraints being placed on the university. UF, to the best of my knowledge doesn't offer an automatic scholarship program that all accepted applicants are considered for.</p>
<p>UF perhaps doesn't feel the need to offer academic scholarships because they currently receive so many applications. Obviously, despite the fact that UF is considered the top public school in florida (by national rankings), receives nearly 30,000 applications, has been so successful with their sports program, has raised a substantial endowment fund (1.2 Billion), they still find themselves in this current financial mess. </p>
<p>If increasing oos enrollment is viewed by many as unfair to in state students and eliminating or changing the structure of bright futures is unrealistic , what does the university do? To many aspiring gators, the thought of cutting enrollment seems unfair and based upon other posts, an enrollment cut wouldn’t alleviate much of the financial pressure. There is no indication that more teachers would be hired if enrollment was cut or infrastructure improvements would be made.</p>
<p>what would you do if you were BM?</p>
<p>^ Here is what I would do:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Increase the total number of Graduate & Professional Students.</p></li>
<li><p>Increase Out-of-State enrollment from (6% now to 25% overall). Right now UF doesn't market the OOS students, and it's time to start advertising in major metro-areas & abroad.</p></li>
<li><p>Increase Tuition to the national Public University average (From $3,000 up to $10,000).</p></li>
<li><p>Decrease the size of the incoming class by 5% a year, until it shrinks to a reasonable number (drop the incoming class from 6,600 to 5,000).</p></li>
<li><p>Reduce the number of Community College transfer students.</p></li>
<li><p>Demand more autonomy from the Legislature.</p></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><p>By following the 6 steps that I have stipulated it will produce a far superior Undergraduate experience for the Undergraduates. Quality needs to be addressed first, and foremost.</p></li>
<li><p>I think it's time for the state of Florida to have a truly excellent Public University for our residents. I don't think it's fair that our best students have to pay tremendously expensive tuition to attend the likes of: NYU, Boston College, Case Western, Brandeis, and Tufts, because they do not have faith in the quality of our public institutions.</p></li>
</ul>