Richard K. Scher: To save UF, privatize it

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Florida
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<p>Richard</a> K. Scher: To save UF, privatize it | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, FL</p>

<p>UF President Bernie Machen announced recently that Florida should invade its “rainy day” fund of more than $3 billion to relieve the institution’s financial crisis (Sun, Aug. 3).</p>

<p>Readers and members of the university community will recall that last spring the state legislature cut UF’s budget by some $47 million, allegedly eliminating about 430 faculty and staff positions (some vacant), necessitating personnel layoffs, and curtailing or modifying a number of academic programs, especially in languages but including biological and social sciences.</p>

<p>President Machen’s plan to save UF is misguided. It will not work, and it will not save UF. There is absolutely nothing in the political history and current climate of state government which suggests that officials would do anything but laugh at his proposal.</p>

<p>State support for public higher education in Florida is pathetic, and shrinking. Our governor and legislators do not regard institutions like UF and its sister schools as public goods worthy of investment. It is more likely that they view public higher education as a drain on the treasury, and if it were not for the entertainment the Gators, Seminoles, Bulls, Knights, Owls and other athletic teams provide, it would not be surprising if state officials shut down the universities altogether, or curtailed their resources even further.</p>

<p>According to the prestigious association of State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) in its 2008 study “State Higher Education Finance, FY2007,” Florida’s performance in funding its institutions of higher education is, charitably, unimpressive, no matter which measure we examine.</p>

<p>For example if we look at state and local support of public higher education per capita (FY 2007), on a national index of 1.00 Florida is at 0.71; our neighbors Alabama (1.31) and Georgia (1.04) do better.</p>

<p>Florida is almost $100 per capita ($197) lower than the national average ($277); Alabama is at $364, and Georgia $289. The states everyone loves to deride — Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi — are at $287, $340, and $318, respectively.</p>

<p>Most revealingly, over a 28-year period Florida had the second largest drop in higher education revenues per FTE of the 50 states, a loss of about $2500. Alabama showed an increase of about $3000 over that period, and Georgia a rise of about $500.</p>

<p>What then to do? First, there is no short-term solution. UF’s fiscal distress will continue unabated until the state’s economy gets moving again. Even the most optimistic assessments suggest this will take years. </p>

<p>But UF could energetically pursue a course of increasing privatization of the budget, a course which “peer” institutions around the country are actively pushing. The goal is to decrease institutional reliance on state appropriations to operate the university so that it does not have to repeatedly suffer the slings and arrows of legislative and gubernatorial stinginess.</p>

<p>A few examples will demonstrate the point. The University of Virginia — a school to which UF would like to compare itself — now receives less than 8 percent of its budget from Richmond. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor gets about 18 percent from Lansing; the University of Illinois-Champaign about 25 percent from Springfield; Penn State is under 20 percent; and Colorado at Boulder, under 10 percent.</p>

<p>UF receives about 66 percent of its major operating budget from state sources.</p>

<p>The institutions just mentioned are all flagship schools, a mantle to which UF aspires. To reach that goal, UF has to aggressively reduce its financial ties to the state. Nationally all public institutions of higher learning get about 64 percent of their budgets fromstate coffers. UF is much too close to that figure; all flagship public universities are substantially below it.</p>

<p>There are downsides to privatization. For example, it will likely require significant increases in tuition (something Tallahassee resists, to keep UF in its place). Without accompanying increases in student financial aid, a UF degree will rapidly become the provenance of the wealthy.</p>

<p>And privatization will require intimate involvement with corporate America — some would say entanglement — which raises another set of ethical and financial issues with which UF will have to contend.</p>

<p>But to continue reliance on Tallahassee to fund educational quality at UF is simply delusional. It’s never going to happen. UF must return to the course former President John Lombardi initiated in the 1990s, and aggressively cultivate substantial private sources of money.</p>

<p>UF recently took steps down the road to big-time privatization. In 2003 the University Athletic Association completed renovations to Ben Hill Griffin football stadium at a cost of $50 million, all of which was privately raised. The just-completed “Gateway of Champions” built at the stadium at a cost of $28 million was also underwritten by private subscription.</p>

<p>But it is sad to note that Tigert Hall launched no comparable major private fund raising effort to help the university’s academic programs, faculty, or staff through the current very trying period. This was a missed opportunity to move the institution in the right direction. Hopefully UF’s administration won’t fumble the next one.</p>

<p>Richard K. Scher is a professor of politicla science at the University of Florida.</p>

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<p>I would gladly pay extra tuition dollars directly towards UF to supplement the bright futures money or the money it gets from the state if it meant that UF would become a better place. It is already too cheap anyway and it would not be unreasonable to charge extra tuition to go to it. So many people are against this but they are the same ones who complain about the school, expecting it to be better and still free at the same time.</p>

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<p>I hope UF and FSU raise tuition by over 100%.</p>

<p>3,000 for a year of tuition is disgustingly too low. We need to at the very least be at the national average for tuition costs.</p>

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<p>Raise tuition by over 100% in an stagnant economy/recession? Great suggestion SSobick! Your brilliance is astounding. </p>

<p>First of all, tuition is 3,800. And yes, that it makes a difference because otherwise the college will drop you classes if you don’t pay in full amount. Perhaps you don’t mind because mommy and daddy are sending a check every new semester for you.</p>

<p>In addition, like a Florida senator mentioned, aren’t our relatively low tuition rates something that we should be proud of? Furthermore, it also worth nothing that those public university that charge more are located in areas with higher cost of livings.</p>

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<p>^ Cry me a river. If I had my way I would charge what the market would allow.</p>

<p>UF’s tuition is disgustingly low. Raise it to the national average</p>

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<p>Kolom,</p>

<p>You were the same poster who was advocating to have a 134 point disparity in the SAT range for FTIC admits. Now your stating that you are proud that we have such low tuition that it is strangeling UF’s academic departments (hense less Professors get Tenure, and huge class-sizes). Also the State Senator who made that comment would like to see all universities in the State University System to turn into massively bloated universities. He would pack the University with 200k students if he was given the chance (hense quantity over quality).</p>

<p>So I just have to ask: do you care at all about UF’s reputation? Shouldn’t we all sacrifice to make UF a Top-10 public? Do you not also agree that Florida should not just rely on tourism and agriculture for our economic future, and that university research could help to provide a new outlet for the states economic growth?</p>

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<p>Kolom, no respectable university or university system is going to sacrifice quality for quantity. If the state university system of Florida wants more quantity, then they must fund it exponentially more. Period. If the state wants tuition to remain low, then the state must SIGNIFICANTLY subsidize it. But if the state can’t afford to make up the difference then they need to allow the schools to increase revenue through tuition.</p>

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<p>I think a fair in-state market price for the University of Florida is around 13k a year for tuition. Out-of-state should be at around 24k a year. This is what Penn State charges their students.</p>

<p>FSU should also be allowed to charge a higher tuition rate as well.</p>

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<p>I wonder if UF can still fill up a full incoming class of 6K students at 13k/year.</p>

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<p>Goufgators: I was saying what a fair market price would be to attend UF. Clearly the demand could drop, however I think the students would realize that they are investing more heavily into their own educations. Clearly the administration would have to convince them it was in their best interest and somehow provided assurances the majority of the new revenue would go to improving the Undergraduate program. It’s reasonible to assume UF would still be able to admit atleast 5k FTIC undergraduates if we raised tuition costs to this level. But the benefit is that we would get well over $100 million a year in recurring money to improve the University. We then could use some of that money to improve financial aid for the most needy of students (regardless of race, creed, or color).</p>

<p>As of today:</p>

<p>Right now UF has around 34k undergraduates and 15k graduate/professional students. In 4 years we should have around 30k undergraduates and 18k graduate/professional (my prediction) if we stay on our current trajectory.</p>

<p>If the privatization plan occured then clearly the make up of the student body would be different (and will not speculate at this juncture).</p>

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<p>As long as Bright Futures will pay 100% of the tuition, I don’t care. :)</p>

<p>If not, then I’ll just go to a cheaper school. I can get a great education anywhere.</p>

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<p>If the state is willing to foot the bill for that much tuition then it shouldn’t have a problem adequately funding UF today. Since the state is penny pinching the universities, don’t count on BFs covering more than the cost of the “base tuition”.</p>

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<p>Which ones do you have in mind?</p>

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<p>First of all, I’m not simply advocating a 134 point disparity among FTIC admits. However, that discussion belongs in another thread. </p>

<p>We live in a state whose government does not think of education as a priority, primarily because of our state demographics. Florida has the largest amount of seniors in the United States, and the majority of seniors do not particularly care or actually have little interest in education. The governor and the legislature are obviously not willing to properly fund the state universities. Can you say “Budget cuts”? In my opinion, Charlie Christ is just a charlatan that successfully deceived the state population. The tuition differential would obviously come from the student’s pockets, or checks from mommy and daddy for some students. I do agree that UF and other universities should raise tuition fairly. Increasing tuition by 100% or to 13,000 (which is SSobick so called market price for UF to get to the “top”) is not an amount that anybody would consider fair. </p>

<p>Of course, I prefer quality over quantity, and yes, I do care about very much about UF. I am a Gator (Shocking, I know).</p>

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<p>“I do agree that UF and other universities should raise tuition fairly. Increasing tuition by 100% or to 13,000 (which is SSobick so called market price for UF to get to the “top”) is not an amount that anybody would consider fair.” </p>

<p>So if we doubled tuition it would still be well below the National average for public universities… How is this not fair?</p>

<p>University of Florida & Florida State should not be considered an entitlement. Raise, raise, and raise tuition until we are atleast at the national average. Tuition Differential was a start, now the Legislature needs to go further to fix our budget woes!</p>

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<ul>
<li> Bump -</li>
</ul>

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<p>I agree that UF should up tuition, and use the revenue to better the undergrad program (like hire more teachers). I don’t think it would decrease demand by too much, but even if it did, that’s not a bad thing. UF’s overall goal is no longer to educate the masses. That’s what the regional state schools are for, and I think they should remain cheap. UF is the flagship university of the state. The better the research and the better quailty graduates UF can produce, the better the Florida economy as a whole becomes. It might not happen overnight but it will in the long run.</p>

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<p>We will have to substantially cut the amount of BF students before raising tuition. It’s obvious that tuition needs to be raised, so the first thing that needs to be done is to cut back BF. </p>

<p>Tuition doesn’t need to skyrocket. Raise it quite a bit… the school ranking will go up…then raise tuition more…the school ranking will go up more & economy will improve…reach equilibrium</p>

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<p>UofF has nailed it! You others should not be afraid to speak what you know in hearts to be true. Let’s be completely honest, and spread the message so that more people can understand where we are coming from. The Legislature and Florida Board of Governors do not realize how important it is for the Flagship Schools to raise tuition. Our friends at Florida State agree with us, and want what we want.</p>

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<ul>
<li> bump -</li>
</ul>

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<p>You guys are lucky with tuition only like 4k and having bright futures. Ohio in-state tuition is like 13-14k, pretty crappy, and why I’ll probably leave Ohio for college.</p>