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University Board Orders Tuition Increase, Enrollment Cut

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

The state's university oversight board today ordered its schools to begin cutting enrollment as a budget deficit threatens the quality of higher education in Florida.

The board also imposed an 8 percent tuition increase, regardless of whether the governor or the Legislature supports it.

Florida's 11 public universities are facing a $147 million budget cut this fiscal year, a grim prospect that undoubtedly will lead to faculty layoffs and larger class sizes for students.

Just how large class sizes will get was a debate that members of the Board of Governors weighed when considering enrollment cuts.

While university presidents say they want to open the door to a burgeoning student population, board members said they didn't want to let Florida's abysmal student-to-faculty ratio to get wider. Florida already has more students to faculty members than any other state: 31-to-1.

The national average is 25-to-1.

"We do not want our students to be admitted unless there is a seat for them," said Mark Rosenberg, the chancellor of Florida's university system.

Not discussed was the challenge the tuition increase will meet from legislators, who claim they have the authority to set student costs.

In his budget recommendations for the next fiscal year, Gov. Charlie Crist recommended no tuition increase for students.

A judge will eventually settle the dispute, but Sheila McDevitt, Board of Governors vice chairman, said today that, "I think this board has made it very clear we recognize the need to raise tuition, and we intend to increase tuition."

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

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