<p>The endowment went up $204 million from last year. We are also at the beginning stages of a $1.5 billion Capital Campaign. So look for the endowment to double by the time it is over.</p>
<p>What will that translate into? I know that the NMSF award was greatly reduced for this year ($1000 now vs $5500 before). Tuition going up or fees going up?</p>
<p>Just because UF has a billion in the bank, doesn't mean tuition doesn't need to go up. Basically the purpose for an endowment is to draw yearly dividens to improve the institution. So in essence UF will draw about 5% from the endowment to make the university better. That equates to around $60 million dollars to enhance excellence.</p>
<p>Tuition is going up at UF & FSU because it was kept at such a disgustingly low level for so long it became a dire need to address the situation. Did you know in-state tuition was only 3k a year? I tell my friends in the Northeast, and they think I am pulling a sick joke on them. Some of these kids pay almost 50k a year in tuition alone.</p>
<p>A college degree is an investment in yourself. Wouldn't you want reasonable tuition so that UF and FSU are not strangled with no money, less classes, low rankings, huge class-sizes, and lack of advising? No joke, a UF education is worth 200k, but you only have to pay 12k, because the state covers the rest.</p>
<p>As far as National Merit I personally believe it should be doubled to $2,000. But that is just my opinion.</p>
<p>I agree that tuition is ridiculously low. The problem for UF is that since most students are Bright Futures, then the increase comes from the State Govt. (or is it lottery money?) and they don't want to commit that kink of money on a permanent basis. The people with pre-paid tuition don't have to pay the increase either, unless the increase is a fee and not actual tuition (I'm not clear on that concept yet). The best part is that the contrast between $30-35000 and $3-5000 tuition is so large that as I mentioned in another thread, the main reason for people not to attend the top private colleges has become economic and not academic. Thus UF keeps attracting a much higher caliber of student and why it's so difficult to get in today. I hope it translates into more research money.</p>
<p>On a related subject, the Athletic Department is doing a wonderful job in keeping the alumni happy and the donations coming in. Getting accepted is so hard that I assume legacy is becoming a minor factor in admissions.</p>
<p>UF got $583 million in research last year, and contributes $6 billion to Florida's economy.</p>
<p>As far as admissions goes - the people making the decisions believe:</p>
<p>URM > Legacy.... </p>
<p>--Keep in mind I have no opinion one way or another. Diversity is great, but so are wealthy donors who will contribute to enhance excellence. Remember there are only 6,600 total spot available, and someone is going to get the shaft.</p>
<p>Florida Lottery money is supposed to fund Bright Futures, which pays for 100% or 75% of your public univ. tuition based on your GPA & scores. Also, a student qualifying for Bright Futures can get the equivalent of public univ. tuition at a private school. However, as more students are opting to stay in state (I'd say 75% of our graduating class stays in state), the amount of money funding Bright Futures is dwindling.</p>
<p>When I toured UF's campus, the liberal arts-y students were protesting the lack of funding for the liberal arts curriculum. It's great that the endowment is at $1.2 billion, but at the same time, a hefty endowment doesn't necessarily translate to sustainability. An increase in tuition really is necessary to make UF more competitive nationally.</p>
<p>Demographically, Florida is weird (as compared to the rest of the country). Is the pool of talent so large and qualified that they can fill all their cuotas proportionally? I've seen that some colleges have to discriminate against women because the talent pool of women is larger but they want to keep a 49/51 male/female ratio.</p>
<p>26,000 applicants last year, and only 42% accepted.</p>
<p>Look for even more applications this year, and a lower acceptance rate as well.</p>
<p>In other words, they'll be able to fill their class as they see fit. When the final statistics are in we'll be able to see how close they monitor the pulse of the state.</p>
<p>The University of Florida is ranked 2nd overall in the United States for the total number of Bachelor Degrees awarded to African Americans, and 3rd overall for Hispanics. In addition UF ranks 5th overall in total number of Doctoral Degrees awarded to African Americans, and 2nd overall for Hispanics. Lastly UF ranks 3rd overall in total number of Professional Degrees awarded to African Americans, and 1st overall for Hispanics.</p>
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<li> Bump -</li>
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<p>Why is it so hard to get people to talk about UF? For a school with 50,000 students and 26,000 applicants there should be a deafening hum of threads and posts going on. Are admission parameters so drastic that they admit no discussion, keeping away many applicants that already know that they will miss the SAT score needed by one point, so they won't be accepted? Is it such a safety school for the regular CC crowd (you scored so high that you know you are going to be accepted)? Are students becoming financial defaults (excellent student, but can't afford to go anywhere else)?</p>
<p>Or, is it paradise and people want to keep it quiet before it really gets overcrowded?</p>
<p>"is it paradise and people want to keep it quiet before it really gets overcrowded?"</p>
<p>I think it is option 1 & 3.</p>
<p>Only the top Floridians even bother to apply to UF, and there is way too much pressure to keep UF primarily in-state. They do very little marketing nation-wide.</p>
<p>Is It my imagination or many private schools do not encourage their students to apply to UF under the pretense that it is below what they deserve when in reality they are afraid that most of the students will not be accepted and the school will not look good? </p>
<p>Is UF setting the tone as to the stats of a top Florida student?</p>
<p>Where is the overflow spilling into: USF or UCF?</p>
<p>USF is steadily improving and UCF is improving as well. It's unfortunate that UCF is such a huge school, though.</p>
<p>Go Gators! :D</p>
<p>"Where is the overflow spilling into: USF or UCF?"</p>
<p>Most of the people I know who were rejected from UF went to either UCF or FSU (more went to UCF than FSU b/c UCF's engineering program is supposed to be better than FSU's). No one I know who was rejected from UF went to USF.</p>
<p>Are there any plans to use the money to hire more teachers - to bring down the average class size? what about new dorms?</p>
<p>One of the complaints about UF is the teacher/student ratio. If they want to be ranked higher this issue should be addressed. About new dorms, they always seem to be building something, so maybe we'll get lucky and some will be dorms.</p>
<p>The $70 million a year has been earmarked for Tuition Differential. This should bring down the student to faculty ratio to about 15 (students) : 1 (faculty).</p>
<p>The money will bring in an extra 200 faculty members from Tuition Differential alone.</p>
<p>In addition, the $1.5 billion (+) Capital Campaign should allow for an even lower student to faculty ratio as well.</p>
<p>FYI: None of the Tuition Differential is earmarked for Dorms. If parents want more dorms then they should lobby to get the Legislature to build them for UF's students. Otherwise, money shouldn't be wasted on housing.</p>
<p>Besides, massive high rises are about to be built across the street from campus as well. But the total number of students should stay around 50,000 total. The City of Gainesville said that we are beyond capacity as it is, and therefore additional total students on UF's campus is out of the question.</p>