<p>TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday he would allow a controversial bill to pass into law that creates a tiered-tuition hike for incoming undergraduates at Florida's flagship public universities.</p>
<p>The bill allows an extra 40 percent tuition hike for incoming students at Florida State University and the University of Florida, and a 30 percent fee increase at the University of South Florida.</p>
<p>The $20 million-plus in extra revenues the three schools would each collect through 2010 would allow them to address overcrowding in bachelor's degree programs, they said.</p>
<p>I don't know about FSU, but a good number of students at UF (I'm thinking at least 50%) go tuition-free on the Bright Futures scholarship. The combo of Bright Futures, sports success, and a general reputation of popularity has made UF applications skyrocket. It used to be that many of the "best" students from Florida left the state (I'm talking a generation ago). Not anymore. </p>
<p>Applications may go down, but the numbers of true serious interest in UF may go up. Does that make any sense?</p>
<p>It would still be a great deal, even if you had to cough up a little bit out of pocket.</p>
<p>The funding, even if it all goes to faculty salaries, would enable UF to lower its faculty-student ratio from 21/1 to something like 19/1. That's still not close to the low ratios of elite smaller universities and it's just a small improvement in one of about 10 ranking categories. The situation for FSU would be similar. I'd expect them to move somehat in the rankings, but not that dramatically.</p>
<p>Current annual tuition and books at UF are around $4200. Most kids are on Florida Brights which pays all the tuition and $600 per year for books ($300 remaining, according to their estimates- actually my son didn't have to use any of his own money for books). Increasing tuition by 40% will cost the student about $1300 more per year than he is already paying. Going to a school as great as UF for an out-of-pocket of $1300 plus living expenses is still a very good deal, and any other colleges would have a really hard time competing with that.</p>
<p>Doesn't matter what the tuition is. What matters is the cost of attendance. $15,070 per year (plus the $1,300) or roughly $68k over four years (if you can get the classes to graduate in four years.) It is still low by flagship u. standards, but poverty/low-income levels in Florida are also relatively high.</p>
<p>At any rate, it is a good "rankings" strategy, and a proven one, to work to lower the percentage of low-income students.</p>
<p>Well, the Florida Brights applies anywhere in the state, and we have a huge state university system. Just about everywhere there is a university within driving distance from home.</p>
<p>My point is, why pick on Florida for being too "expensive" for <em>anyone</em> when it's still be best game in town (or the country in this case), cost-wise??</p>
<p>Mini, how much does it cost for someone to attend your state flagship?</p>
<p>OK, Washington State costs around $18K annually. I guess that means Wash State is trying to keep the riff-raff out. They must be trying to work the poor to increase their rankings.</p>
<p>The COA is that high only for dorming students. Many many students--especially first generation in college ones--have made do with commuting from home. That brings the COA down to less than half that amount.</p>
<p>It doesn't appear to be all <em>that</em> rigorous to get one of these scholarships (3.5 GPA and 1270 SATI, if I am reading that correctly). If these are the minimum requirements, the state must be handing out a lot of free tuition, so no wonder they want to raise the fees.</p>
<p>Allmusic,
You're right, it's not that rigorous, especially when you consider that the second tier Bright Futures scholarship (Florida Medallion Scholar), which pays 75% of tuition, is available to those who score a 970 SAT and a 3.0 GPA in 15 hours of high school credits. Not too shabby.</p>
<p>The point is, the state of Florida is NOT trying to shut out the riff-raff or the poor, it's trying to give everyone the opportunity to access a college education. The money comes out of our Florida lottery, which funds education, including the Bright Futures programs.</p>
<p>In light of this, and also the fact that UF's tuition still remains low compared to most other states in the nation, I don't understand how anyone can find too much fault for wanting to increase tuition a little to improve the quality of education. Like I said, most students are currently paying ZERO for tuition at UF, so coming up with an additional $1300 is still a very good deal indeed.</p>
<p>I completely agree. My state has a decrepit and underfunded public education system, where we have no such scholarships. I think it is terrific that Florida is doing so much to offer an education to as many students as possible.</p>
<p>"The point is, the state of Florida is NOT trying to shut out the riff-raff or the poor, it's trying to give everyone the opportunity to access a college education."</p>
<p>Well, they darn well should if they want to rise in the rankings.</p>
<p>They should keep poor people from going to their school so they can shoot up in the rankings? That's messed up. Fortunately for me, Florida actually cares and is unlikely to sell out any time soon.</p>
<p>Actually Florida is going to start making their Community Colleges into 4 year institutions, therefore it will allow the State University System of Florida to become alot more exclusive. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is the direction that the SUS is starting to go.</p>
<p>Really, suggesting that poor folks won't be able to afford a university education in Florida is a gratuitous cheap-shot. :eek: Finally, with this law we have some order in our SUS with this de facto tier system, which is characteristic of virtually every university system that works for excellence in higher ed.</p>
<p>I guarantee that any accomplished student would be able to attend either FSU or UF virtually for free. If they aren't that accomplished, we have 10 other universities that still can provide a solid education at the existing, cheapest-in-the-nation rates.</p>
<p>Now - if you suggest our best universities should always be the cheapest in the US, well, why don't you move down here to Florida and pay taxes and endure politically-inspired academic mediocrity in higher education? Better still, let's export the mediocrity to your state...there's plenty to go around. </p>
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Actually Florida is going to start making their Community Colleges into 4 year institutions, therefore it will allow the State University System of Florida to become alot more exclusive. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is the direction that the SUS is starting to go.