TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

State Leaders, Crist Still Split On Tuition Hike

ADVERTISEMENT

By CATHERINE DOLINSKI and ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2007

Updated: 09/27/2007 12:33 am

TALLAHASSEE - Falling school rankings and rising student-faculty ratios have convinced both lawmakers and the Board of Governors that Florida's college tuition rates must go up.

But they can't convince Gov. Charlie Crist, who argues that raising tuition will hurt Florida families when they can least afford it.

The debate already has sparked controversy twice this year. After Crist vetoed a 5 percent tuition increase that lawmakers approved this spring, the Board of Governors joined a lawsuit asserting that authority to set tuition belongs to them. Now a third storm may be brewing, as House lawmakers on Wednesday proposed a 5 percent increase again, setting the stage for another Crist veto if the preliminary proposal makes it through the legislature's special session that begins next week.

Meanwhile, the Board of Governors will vote today whether to raise tuition. But today's vote has the potential to create yet more conflict, since many of the universities governed by the board question whether that body has the power to raise tuition and worry about alienating the Legislature.

However the drama plays out, it leaves Crist more or less isolated in his opposition to a tuition boost. In a recent interview, however, the governor said he doesn't see it that way.

'I think I'm out there with the people,' he said. 'I know I am.'

Warning Signs

State leaders cringed this year when U.S. News and World Report, the Bible of college rankings, marked down Florida's top two research universities.
Florida State University fell two spots to 112th on the Best American Colleges list, while the University of Florida dropped two spots to 49th.The University of South Florida stayed put in its spot in the third of four tiers.
Money problems are blocking the road to improving Florida's university system, according to the Pappas Consulting Group, which specializes in higher education and issued a critical report on Florida's system at the start of the year.

Florida's tuition, which was increased last school year by 3 percent, ranks at or near the bottom of the 50 states, the consultants said. 'Without increased flexibility with tuition for the state university system institutions ... or major new state investments, no blueprint or long-term master plan can possibly begin to even take shape.'

Evelyn Lynn, chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee, is worried that budget crunches are making the current system worse.

'I'm concerned about the fact that we've already seen schools cut back on enrollment,' she said. 'We know that class sizes are increasing, and they're limited in terms of their hiring top professors.'

Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, is worried about the impact of additional cuts that lawmakers could approve in the upcoming special session as they trim the state budget by $1.1 billion. She's ready, she said, to relieve some of the pressure with a tuition increase.

So are House leaders. Today, the House Policy and Budget Council will consider the 5 percent tuition increase proposal.

For Mark Rosenberg, chancellor of Florida's university system, nothing less than classroom quality is at stake.

While lawmakers are talking tuition at the capitol, Rosenberg will recommend to the Board of Governors that universities raise tuition by 5 percent this spring. He also is asking the board to consider raising tuition and fees, $5,840, within three years. Tuition and fees now run about $3,300 a year at Florida's 11 public universities.

The extra tuition dollars over three years will pay for 500 to 600 new faculty members, Rosenberg said. They also will boost need-based financial aid - a response to critics such as Crist who claim that higher tuition hurts families.

Whether lawmakers approve a tuition increase is irrelevant, Rosenberg said. In July, the board voted to join a lawsuit that former Gov. Bob Graham filed against the Legislature to settle who has the power to raise tuition. Board members argue that power rests with them.

But if the board approves the 5 percent rate hike for this spring, not every university is planning on implementing it. Presidents at Florida State University and Florida Atlantic University said this month that they didn't plan to increase tuition this spring. Other schools, such as the University of Florida and the University of South Florida, said they didn't know what they would do given the uncertainty posed by the lawsuit.

Rosenberg said those universities have no choice if the board votes to raise tuition.

The People's Governor

Lawmakers' plans to raise tuition would apply to both universities and community colleges next spring, said Joe Pickens, House Chairman of the Schools and Learning Council. The latter, he said, probably needs it the most.

'Whenever the economy is bad, community college enrollments go up,' said Pickens, R-Palatka. 'They are trying to maintain an open-door policy, but you can't teach more students with professors if you can't hire them. If I were talking to the governor, that's what I would tell him - a tuition increase in the spring semester would allow us to hire more adjunct professors.'

Crist said current budget pressures do not justify raising tuition next spring. He noted that he approved a plan from lawmakers this year to allow three research universities to charge higher tuition than other universities in the state, but with the understanding that the higher rates would not take effect before fall 2008.

'I always think about the pressures on the people,' he said. 'I know they're paying too much for property insurance, for example. I know they're paying too much in property taxes. I don't want them to have to be burdened yet again to pay more for the education of their children.'

He hopes, he said, that lawmakers will not have to make further cuts to higher education, though his own budget reduction plan slashes almost $110 million from operating and administrative budgets in the university system, in addition to other targeted cuts. Community colleges would lose $45.3 million from their operating budgets.

The governor acknowledged a pressing need to improve higher education, and has spoken of reorganizing it into tiers to resemble California's system.

But Crist said he far prefers boosting the state's investment in the state's universities to upping tuition. 'Taxpayers are already paying once in terms of what they have to send to Tallahassee, so my preference is not to have Florida families get hit again with a tuition increase if at all possible.'

The governor said he intends to propose boosting state funding for higher education next year.

'I have to watch the economy, too,' Crist said. 'I don't want to commit to something, except that I want it to be higher, at this juncture.'

Rosenberg said he 'respects' Crist's reasons for rejecting a tuition hike but said it 'basically puts us in a position of continuing deterioration.'

The state historically has underfunded higher education, the chancellor said, leaving the system to grapple with a $100 million budget hole this year. Much of the shortfall came from a lack of funding for new students, say university leaders who asked lawmakers for $112 million to cover student population growth but received only $42 million. Total appropriations for the university system this year totaled $2.2 billion.

USF leaders said this summer that to hire more faculty without a tuition increase, they'd have to dip into their endowment, which has assets totaling $380 million. But donors earmark much of that money for specific purposes, and much bankrolls scholarships.

'I don't know if it's officially underfunded,' Crist said of the university system. 'I think I would characterize it as we can always do better.'

Meanwhile, the Legislature is trying to reach an agreement with Crist on tuition, said Pickens.

'The House and Senate both felt as though a tuition increase was warranted in the regular session,' said Pickens. 'We want to reassert that opinion in the role that we have in the budget-cutting process. And we'll just see where it goes.'

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com. Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT