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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

Thirty years and a full-fledged political career separate Gov. Charlie Crist from the student leaders on today's university campuses in Florida, but their views appear to be influencing the governor's stand on a proposed tuition increase at the 11 state universities.

Concerned about the need to keep higher education affordable for Florida families, Crist vetoed a 5 percent tuition increase earlier this year. Crist now says he is considering a similar hike contained in legislation crafted during the special session.

The governor earlier had seemed adamant about not raising tuition at a time when families were struggling with rising property taxes and homeowners' insurance, but student leaders' insights on the matter seemed to give him pause in a way few other arguments had.

The position student government leaders took in their meeting with Crist last month was not new. Student body presidents have long argued that they would support a modest tuition increase as long as the money would be used to help undergraduates by reducing class sizes and providing more academic counseling.

And they are apparently persuasive constituents because shortly after this meeting, the governor began to reconsider his opposition to a tuition increase.

Here are some of the excerpts from that Sept. 4 conversation in which Crist quizzed the students on their thoughts about the future of higher education in Florida:

Crist: How many of you would like a tuition increase? Could you show me your hands again?

Joe O'Shea, Florida State University student government president: Times are tough, and I think nobody really wants it. But there's some bare level of service, some bare level of quality people demand from government or the universities. ... I'd favor it as long as there is student input in how we are using it - as long as it's tied to some kind of increase in need-based aid. Whenever we increase the cost of education, we always have to think about the people - if they can really have the chance to have their dream.

Ryan Moseley, University of Florida student government president: As long as those increases are going back to students and helping them with issues like advisers and faculty, that's where we see ourselves favoring tuition increases.

Crist: What if the tuition increases went for research; how would you feel about it?

Moseley: I am in favor of that because at the end of the day, that comes back to students as well. Having more research opportunities, having professors on the cutting edge of their field, having quality professors is helpful to a lot of our students and the reputation of the university - and therefore their degree.

Crist: How do you balance that with ... access, too? I'm struggling with that, too. One day one of you will be sitting in this chair - I was in your chair; it's not inconceivable. In fact, it's quite likely. Your help would be quite helpful to this guy.

Barclay Harless, former University of South Florida student government president: Nobody wants ... a tuition increase.

Crist: I'm glad to hear you say that!

Harless: But at USF the first day, and its first week, it has been hectic because classes are filled. Kids are sitting on the floor. There are classes at University Mall ... It's not just on class level but your college career. I have fraternity brothers who are engineering majors, and they have to take their classes in a systematic order and if they can't get into a course, that automatically pushes them back ... The majority of students I talked to feel earmarked tuition - tuition where they know where it is going - is much better. And the need-based aid is very important because once you do increase (tuition) you want to make sure everybody can come along.

Logan Berkowitz, University of Central Florida student government vice president: Class size is big, and the hiring freeze we are dealing with is difficult. Students don't want to see an increase because obviously tuition is expensive as it is. But they are sort of now seeing something has to happen. Something needs to give. I don't want to be here forever. I don't want to spend a lot of money. But if I need to, it needs to happen because I can't stay here for five, six years. You stay in school for an extra semester - that's rent, that's books. Nobody really thinks about it.

Crist: There's been talk about a tier system, community colleges and then mid-level universities and some in the university system you want in the top tier. Any thoughts on that?

O'Shea: I worry when you go to that, what kind of diversity are you losing in the school? ... That's one of the biggest things you would lose.

Monique Gillum, Florida A&M student government president: That's a very interesting system but very concerning for a school like FAMU. Our pharmacy program and SBI (School of Business and Industry) - how would it affect those types of programs?

Brad Piepenbrink, Florida Gulf Coast University student government president: Our campus is a unique setup in Southwest Florida ... I feel that we have the classes of a flagship ... It would be hard for us to attract the top-caliber professors if you had that kind of class system ... That would be the biggest downside for our university.

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