<p>“UF has a strong academic reputation despite its low tuition. Are you guys arguing that if UF were to raise its tuition, it would improve academic reputation?”</p>
<p>Unlike California, the residents of Florida are all about low taxes. We have historically been short sighted people who lack the mental capacity to plan for the longterm (sad but true). We have no Income Tax, and the State University System gets crappy funding from the Legislature.</p>
<p>Believe it or not: things are now starting to change because we feel that the Universities can provide a good way to diversify Florida’s economy. Our economy is currently based around agriculture and tourism. We are now spending billions of dollars on bio-medical & cancer research. Bascially rolling out the red carpet to West Coast biomedical research firms to bring them here.</p>
<p>We are now at a point where we need higher tuition to raise revenue so that we can continue to build up research infastructure and keep the quality of the education up as well. Politically this has been difficult because if we raise tuition then it will cost the state extra revenue to fund the college pre-paid programs and to cover the Bright Futures Scholarship. However, we are now at a point where things are really starting to change.</p>
<p>Just so you know we kept tuition low for the main purpose of keeping the cost of pre-paid & Bright Futures down. Tuition is low because Florida has a bunch of yahoo politicans who are cheap and pander to faux-populists.</p>
<p>Alexandre,
I meant my earlier comments as a prop to U Florida. I didn’t appreciate that U Florida’s recent research funding activities grew nearly as quickly in absolute dollars as U Michigan despite U Michigan’s much stronger history in this area. </p>
<p>As far as U Michigan’s diversifying its research efforts, this makes strategic sense as governmental funding seems increasingly hard to get and the state of Michigan’s political power has been on the decline for some time now. Moving more into the private realm seems a necessity for U Michigan and other institutions that have historically depended on federal and state monies. But aren’t others doing the same thing or is there some kind of competitive advantage that U Michigan has in doing research for the private sector that another college could not also match? Is U Michigan planning to leverage its alumni base in some way to accomplish this?</p>
<p>Speaking of political power: the state of Florida currently has 25 U.S. Congressmen (9 of which are UF alumni). This number is expected to jump to 27 or 28 on account of the new U.S. Census.</p>
<p>Coming from the North (where overall state publics aren’t all that prestigious) it was kind of a culture shock to come to Florida where the UF school spirit is so high. Kids with big bucks who could go anywhere choose to go there. Gator Nation license plates, the works. If you want to stay in Florida and build a career here, the alumni network is very strong. If you say you went to Yale people say, “and?” but if you say UF its a big deal. I guess it has something to do with sports, too. Personally, I want my kids to experience life outside of Florida and meet kids from other parts of the country, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>dke,
I giggled on your Yale comment. LOL-so true. Folks in the South don’t spend a lot of time thinking/obsessing about the Ivy League. Travel around in the region and you see that many of the state publics are held in very high regard, eg, U Virginia, W&M, U North Carolina, U Georgia, Georgia Tech, U Florida, and all of these can hold their own in statistical comparisons with virtually any public university in the country. And I think you’re right about the sports thing-you don’t have to be a fan of the sports themselves, but the events are such a big deal in the region, not to mention being tons of fun. I’m not sure if there is any kind of northern equivalent.</p>
<p>The OP asked what the OOS reputation of UF was. We’ve heard what the Californian poster wrote as well. UF isn’t taken very seriously in the Northeast, maybe because there are so many good colleges and U’s already up there to compete with, reputation-wise. It’s thought of as “Suntan U.” whether its true or not. Can’t speak for other parts of the country, though.</p>
<p>dke,
I agree that for folks in the Northeast, U Florida isn’t considered very frequently as a college choice. Too bad for them, but I’m guessing that it’s not such a big deal to those in Florida. The fact is that the school is almost exclusively Floridian and what non-Floridians think isn’t given a lot of weight by the locals. </p>
<p>As for other regions of the country, my impression is that they likewise don’t see U Florida much in their sphere and don’t give it a lot of thought, but if pressed, would probably place the school in the same league as places like Penn State, U Texas, and U Washington. All very good public schools, but rarely placed in the highest echelon when the subject turns to academic rankings.</p>
<p>If UF could ever get their student faculty ratio lower (currently ~19.5) and their accepted SAT to a 1400 (currently ~1340 for admitted students), heads would turn.</p>
Not so sure about that – I would say that people would value quality of academic programs more than student faculty ratio. </p>
<p>
Admitted student stats are fine but a more accurate measurement of a school’s student body are <em>matriculating</em> student stats. One way to do that would be to dangle a lot of $$$ in front of prized students – pretty much what WashU and USC does.</p>
<p>calicartel,
One key point you might be missing is the relative yields. As a state university with a very high in-state population and a very low price tag, U Florida has a very good yield (63%) which is much, much stronger than either Wash U or USC. Students are coming to U Florida now and an improved student-faculty ratio could only help that.</p>
<p>Top ten northern private price tag: $52,000, $0 finaid offer, maybe some merit scholarship money)</p>
<p>UF: $18,000 price tag (IS), Bright Futures, National Merit, Honors College.</p>
<p>Is the difference in education and prestige worth $136,000 over 4 years?</p>
<p>This year money is tight and with the real estate/mortgage problem, what you could count on to invest in your children’s education and still be able to retire someday has taken a tumble.</p>
<p>I think this year’s yield will be higher than usual (I don’t know if this has to do with incoming freshmen, but the school has already said that transfer students will be reduced greatly).</p>
<p>“I would say that people would value quality of academic programs more than student faculty ratio.”</p>
<p>Thats the thing… The quality is there, it’s just that student to faculty ratio is too high. UF has a good Peer Assessment Score, and has actually been on the rise over the last 3 years.</p>
<p>That’s so true, UCB. The other Florida publics aren’t in the same league as UF so they have very little competition. Its basically the jewel in the crown.</p>
<p>calicartel,
I agree with you vis-a-vis the UCs, but I read your earlier comments referencing Wash U and USC so that is why I responded as I did. As the premier public school in the state, clearly U Florida benefits from this, but please recognize that the population of California is twice that of Florida so that also works to the benefit of the UCs. However, I think it is more than time for other state Us in Florida to pick up the pace and improve their products. By comparison, California residents have a much better assortment of public choices.</p>
<p>I know that the Florida legislature is not going to do much. The reality is that this funding difficulty extends to every state in the USA. All public universities are having difficulty maintaining the same level of funding from the state governments. This results in less resources for students, a lower grade undergraduate experience and a less competitive college when considered on a national stage. </p>
<p>But ALL of these public schools have more control over their future than they let on. It’s easy to point at the politicians and blame them for your woes, but several prominent state universities (most visibly U Virginia and U Michigan and more recently U Wisconsin) are taking matters into their own hands. They are working extremely hard to raise capital from their alumni and build endowment that lessens the impact from the nearly inevitable state budget cuts that are ahead. With all of the great alumni support that U Florida’s athletic wins has generated, the school’s leadership needs to harness this and build that endowment up. Same with FSU. Don’t wait for the politicians to save or improve higher education in Florida.</p>