<p>From the Orlando Sentinel:</p>
<p>Leaders of the Florida university system gave their blessing Thursday to a proposed $1,000-a-year student fee that would enable the University of Florida to pay for 200 more professors and 100 academic advisers.</p>
<p>Meeting in Pensacola, the Board of Governors endorsed the plan, which would dramatically increase the cost of attending Florida's flagship public university.</p>
<p>The $500-a-semester fee would be charged to undergraduates starting with the new freshman class next fall. Phased in over four years, it is expected to raise $36 million annually and help boost UF's academic standing.</p>
<p>UF's board of trustees is expected to approve the fee in December. The Legislature would then consider it during its spring session.</p>
<p>Carolyn Roberts, chairwoman of the Board of Governors, acknowledged that the fee would be a break with how Florida has financed its universities.</p>
<p>"We are only approving it for one university," she said. "It's a model. We are going to hold the university accountable on every level."</p>
<p>Student Government President John Boyles said UF President Bernie Machen discussed the proposal with students last week, and they did not oppose it. The fee would not apply to those currently enrolled.</p>
<p>A key provision is that poor students would not have to pay.</p>
<p>"Anyone who has a financial need will not be burdened," Manny Fernandez, chairman of the UF trustees, told the governors Thursday.</p>
<p>Machen is pushing the fee as part of an "Academic Enhancement Program" intended to beef up undergraduate studies and propel the Gainesville campus onto a list of top-10 public universities in the country.</p>
<p>The idea is to enlarge the faculty and lower student-teacher ratios from 21-to-1 to 14-to-1, creating more course offerings and smaller classes. The additional advisers would help keep students on track for graduation.</p>
<p>Machen's plan draws on comparisons between UF and other top public schools, such as the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They have student-teacher ratios of 15-to-1 and 14-to-1, respectively, according to an annual survey by U.S. News & World Report.</p>
<p>UF is Florida's biggest university, but its tuition and fees -- $3,206 this year -- are among the lowest charged by top state schools nationwide. The modest tuition makes it hard to reduce class sizes, university officials say.</p>
<p>Tuition at other Florida universities is similarly low by national standards, making the proposed UF experiment of wide interest at other campuses.</p>
<p>Dan Holsenbeck, vice president for university relations at the University of Central Florida, said the school has no plans to consider such a fee but will watch to see the effect it has on educational quality at UF.</p>
<p>"If sometime in the future it becomes available to other universities, of course we would consider it," Holsenbeck said.</p>
<p>Also watching is Florida State University, where President T.K. Wetherell has proposed a "Pathways of Excellence" plan that calls for hiring 200 faculty stars to raise the institution's profile.</p>
<p>If the enhancement program works for UF, it's something that FSU also might consider, spokeswoman Browning Brooks said. But she stressed that there's a long way to go before Machen's plan is approved.</p>
<p>The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship program would not cover the UF fee, nor would the Florida Prepaid College Plan. Almost 95 percent of in-state UF undergraduates receive Bright Futures scholarships, which cover either 75 percent or 100 percent of tuition and most fees.</p>
<p>They or their parents would have to come up with the $500-per-semester "enhancement."</p>
<p>Susan Jacobson can be reached at <a href="mailto:sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com">sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com</a> or 386-851-7903.</p>