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USF Mulls Student Fee That Bright Futures Won't Cover

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2008

University of South Florida trustees will soon consider a fee students must pay out of their own pockets to help bankroll technology upgrades.

Lawmakers last fall empowered Florida's public universities to levy a fee of up to 5 percent of the tuition students pay per credit hour. USF administrators are asking trustees to approve the maximum amount, which would add about $122 to an annual undergraduate tuition bill of $3,990 at the Tampa campus.

That extra amount, however, won't be covered by the state's popular Bright Futures Scholarship, which pays for tuition and fees depending on a student's high school grades and test scores.

USF students will have to cover the costs themselves. There was no previous fee to support technology upgrades, and Florida's public universities have long argued they needed to turn to students for help.

Several student and faculty committees will recommend how to use the money, but Michael Pearce, USF's vice president of information technology, said the money could be spent on computer lab upgrades, wireless expansion, tech support, software availability and online course archives.

"It will be important that students be heavily involved in this," Pearce said Thursday.

The fee would generate $5.2 million for USF in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

A workgroup of trustees will discuss the proposal at a Thursday meeting, and the full board will consider it in December.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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