TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Czar Calls For Focus On Higher Education

ADVERTISEMENT

By ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2008

Updated: 01/04/2008 11:55 pm

A governor who has been reluctant to raise tuition for Florida's college and university students has, at his side, an adviser who warns that the state's universities are "severely underfunded."

Tuition is too low, state support for higher education is lagging and there needs to be a "meaningful discussion" about remaking a merit scholarship that bankrolls the education for nearly 100,000 Florida students, said Dean Colson, a Miami lawyer picked by Gov. Charlie Crist to be the counsel for the state university system.

Colson, 55, may seem at first an odd choice for the Republican governor. Colson is a Democrat who serves as board chairman of the private University of Miami.

He has served on the governor's transition team, however, and said his new role as an unpaid adviser to Crist on higher education "was not a difficult question to say 'yes' to."

He says public universities are critical to Florida's economy, but concedes that the state hasn't backed higher education the way it should.

Relations between universities and the governor frayed after Crist vetoed a 5 percent tuition increase for universities last spring. Although Crist signed off on a similar tuition increase five months later, which will take effect this month, university leaders say it isn't enough to support a system that has burst with students in recent years.

Florida's public universities are among the cheapest nationwide; annual tuition and fees average about $3,400. The national average is about $6,200.

Colson also says the fight between the university system and the Legislature over who has authority to raise tuition is one reason that "most of the higher education community nationally is dismayed by the current status of higher education in Florida."

The Tribune recently interviewed Colson by phone to get a sense of his plans for his new job. The following are excerpts from the talk.

What, in your opinion, is the current state of public higher education in Florida?

I think we are severely underfunded. It's a shame that we don't have four or five institutions that are nationally recognized in the top 100. We have a growing population around major urban centers, and we have to fund those universities in a way that they can handle the population that they're serving. We simply have not been doing that.

What do you hope to accomplish?

I might be naïve, but I'm not a political person. I hope I can provide a repository of ideas ... and make a case for additional funding, or the need to not cut higher education.

The future of Florida is really dependent upon our higher educational institutions. If we want to stay competitive as an economy, we have to do a much better job of producing baccalaureate degrees. We need to do a much better job harnessing limited resources. And we need to understand the critical role community colleges play.

We cannot let public education become our fourth or fifth priority. It has to be our first or second.

When you were appointed, you told reporters, "Everybody knows we need to invest more money in higher education in Florida." What, in your opinion, is the best way to invest that money?

We have to fund these schools at a level to allow them to provide adequate teacher-to-student ratios. We have to fund these educational institutions where they can afford to pay salaries to attract the best faculty. We have to fund these institutions with an ability to produce baccalaureate degrees, not just in a six-year period, but in a four-year period.

There are lots of different ideas about this. We need a pot of money, and we need to spend the money.

Do you agree with the Board of Governors and university presidents who say that tuition is too low?

Yes. Your marketplace will tell you what your tuition should be. You have to recognize that, to have a certain level of quality, it's going to cost a certain amount of money. One way to do that is to raise tuition.

Even if we get the tuition to the national average, that's still not enough money to properly fund that system. But it would be a start.

Lately, university leaders and some lawmakers have argued that it's too easy to get the Bright Futures scholarship. An education consultant to the state university system warned that the scholarship, while well-intentioned, could aid in bankrupting the system. Would you recommend any changes?

I think there needs to be a meaningful discussion of the whole thing. I think there needs to be a merit component to the scholarship so we can keep our best and brightest in the state. The rest of it needs to be need-based aid.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT