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University Panel Votes To Raise Tuition 5%

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By ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 28, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The state's university oversight board voted Thursday to defy Florida lawmakers and raise tuition by 5 percent this spring.

Even though state legislators proposed this week to raise tuition by the same amount, the Board of Governors no longer recognizes the Legislature's power to raise student costs.

State universities are facing $188 million in budget cuts, and school leaders say they must raise tuition to avoid deep cuts to academic programs.

The increase adds $55 to the bill of a student taking 15 credit hours this spring.

Altogether, the money raises $9.5 million for the state's 11 public universities.

"This is clearly about quality, and trying to find a way to slow down the deterioration," said Mark Rosenberg, chancellor of Florida's public university system.

Rosenberg and board members say they are only carrying out the wishes of lawmakers, who last spring raised tuition by 5 percent before Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed the move.

It is those lawmakers, however, whom the board is suing to settle who has the authority to raise tuition.

Board members agreed in July to join a lawsuit filed by former Gov. Bob Graham and other prominent Floridians who say the Legislature undermines the authority that state residents gave the Board of Governors when they created the body in 2002.

When he filed suit this summer, Graham said lawmakers have shortchanged Florida's public universities for years.

In responding to the board's move to raise tuition Thursday, state Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, said through a spokeswoman that "we are currently in litigation regarding higher education tuition. We will be consulting with our legal counsel as to the best course of action."

Board chairwoman Carolyn Roberts said a Leon County circuit judge hearing the case could make a decision by December.

Meanwhile, Rosenberg emphasized to university presidents that they must raise tuition, even though some are reluctant to increase tension between educators and the Legislature. Some schools, such as Florida State University, have said they don't plan to raise tuition this spring.

To that, Rosenberg said he's sure those schools "will do the right thing."

University of South Florida Vice Provost Ralph Wilcox said his university will charge the higher amount.

"The chancellor has made it quite clear," Wilcox said.

Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, chairman of the House Schools and Learning Council, said the board's move "would leave us in what I think would be a very unfortunate situation."

The 5 percent tuition increase House and Senate members proposed extends to community colleges.

If Crist vetoes that increase, and the Board of Governors carries out its own, "that would leave only community colleges out in the cold, as far as no enhancement in the form of tuition increase in the spring," Pickens said.

Rosenberg wouldn't speculate on whether the Bright Futures scholarship would cover the increase the board approved. The scholarship covers 75 percent to 100 percent of tuition and fees at a public university, which run about $3,300 a year.

The increase is just the first Rosenberg wants the board to consider, regardless of what the Legislature orders. As part of a long-range plan discussed Thursday, Rosenberg said he wants to raise tuition to the national average -- $5,840 -- within three years.

The plan is the result of recommendations issued this year by a Connecticut-consultant, Alceste Pappas, who surveyed the state's university system at the board's request and deemed it a shambles.

Pappas found nearly all the state's universities were vying for limited money to be the best research institutions. But none had reached top-flight status, as the best schools have in California and Michigan, Pappas said, and few had focused on awarding bachelor's degrees.

Board members all agreed Thursday that any university opened in the future would focus almost solely on awarding bachelor's degrees.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski contributed to this report. Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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