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Public Universities' Staff, Students Feel Sting Of Budget Cuts

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 2, 2008

Class sizes at Florida's public universities were already among the largest nationwide. Starting this fall, students should expect them to get bigger. Budget cuts at each of the state's 11 public universities have left a gaping hole in the faculty ranks - either through layoffs or vacant jobs gone unfilled.

That means fewer freshman spots and fewer course offerings that give current students the flexibility they need in their schedules to graduate on time. It may only get worse. Here's a summary of cuts at three of Florida's largest universities.

Adam Emerson

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Budget cut: $47 million

What goes: 430 jobs; a reduction in study abroad scholarships, high school visits, recruitment fairs and career center services

Impact: Undergraduate enrollment cut by 1,000 students a year for the next four years. Several doctoral programs, including those in philosophy and romance languages, will admit no students for the next three years.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Budget cut: $50.4 million

What goes: 450 jobs; classroom seats; access to academic buildings at night; some opportunities for student employment

Impact: Freshman enrollment, which reached about 3,700 this year, will be frozen at that level; administrators will cut course offerings and enlarge class sizes to deal with faculty loss; remaining course sections in the College of Arts and Sciences are filling fast, leaving fewer seats for transfer students.

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Budget cut: $31.6 million

What goes: Still working on a budget plan, but trustees in January empowered its president to cut 118 faculty jobs, 100 staff positions and hundreds of course sections. That may change when trustees meet this month.

Impact: About 1,100 fewer freshmen attending FSU in the fall. Admissions director Janice Finney said the university placed 2,000 prospective students on a wait list, the most in its history. While she found spots for 200 wait-listed students, Finney said, "We're done."

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