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Crist's Bold Tuition Plan Will Enhance Education

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist was just a few months into his new administration when the subject of Florida's universities elicited two strong responses from him: Crist thought it was ludicrous that Florida students were having a hard time getting into public universities, and he was soundly against raising tuition.

But the governor promised two things as he started his new administration. First, he was going to take a hard look at the status and future of higher education in Florida. And second, he was going to listen to what people had to say about tuition.

Crist has kept his promise. The initiative he announced Friday to raise tuition - and thus the quality of higher education in Florida - is an encouraging turn of events.

Crist, the populist, could have stuck to his guns and railed against tuition increases in tough economic times.

He could have adopted the anti-intellectual bent of some in the Legislature who view too much fancy learning as a waste of money.

Or he could have sat idly by as Florida's universities wither on the vine, starved of the resources necessary to provide a high-quality undergraduate education and to retain their best and brightest minds.

That would have put Florida on a path to turning its state universities into sprawling monuments to mediocrity.

Instead, Crist chose to stand on the side of quality and for the future of higher education in Florida. He has spent the past two years learning about what the state university system and its students need, and responded accordingly.

Under Crist's proposal - which will be subject to legislative approval - each of Florida's 11 public universities would be able to raise tuition up to 15 percent above the base undergraduate tuition rate of about $3,400 until Florida's universities reach the national average of about $6,900. The University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of South Florida, which already have state authority to charge higher tuition rates, would have caps on their increases lifted.

The increases will raise $72 million in the first year alone to begin upgrading the quality of undergraduate education.

For most of Florida's university students, the increase is negligible. Bright Futures scholarships - which pay 75 to 100 percent of that base tuition, would continue - and all the scholarship students will have to pay is the difference. Families who purchased Florida prepaid tuition contracts before July 2007 are exempt from the tuition increases.

The threshold for earning a Bright Futures scholarship is so moderate that it virtually guarantees most Florida students who can get into a state university a scholarship; an estimated 40 to 43 percent of Florida's undergraduate student body has a Bright Futures award. Students will have to pay a little more for their education, but state studies have shown most of the students on Bright Futures do not come from homes with financial need.

For needy students, Crist's program sets aside 30 percent of the proceeds from the tuition increases for financial aid. The other 70 percent of the tuition proceeds would be committed to hiring and retaining high-quality faculty and taking other steps to enhance the quality of education.

It is important to keep in mind that university students have advocated for higher tuition rates, rightly acknowledging that some Florida universities are so overcrowded and understaffed that students' paths to graduation are slowed.

Students understand a degree from a substandard university does them no good in this competitive job market.

The bottom line is that the tuition in-state students pay covers only about 25 percent of the cost of providing them an education. Since 1990, declining state appropriations for higher education have chopped Florida's per student funding from nearly $16,000 to a less than $12,000 this year.

The result is a slow starvation of the university system. Florida has one of the highest student-faculty ratios in the United States; enrollment in large classes numbering 100 students or more has grown by 50 percent this decade, and less than 60 percent of students are finishing their degrees in six years.

Florida cannot afford to do nothing while its universities fall further behind the rest of the nation.

Crist is staking out a bold stand for the cause of quality. His plan deserves solid backing from state lawmakers, who now must do their part to reverse the downward trajectory of Florida's higher education system.

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