Late last week, Florida Senate Democratic Leader Alfred “Al” Lawson issued grave words of warning about Gov. Charlie Crist’s differential tuition plan.
“This move puts higher education even further out of reach,” Lawson said. “Florida ranks among the highest for foreclosures, job loss, and bankruptcies. Dumping tuition hikes into the laps of students and their families is the wrong move at the wrong time. It’s the latest in a long line of bad moves shifting the state’s funding obligations down to the people, and the people are suffering enough.”
Crist’s proposal will open the way for every state university to increase tuition by up to 15 percent that goes beyond the rates set in the annual appropriations bill. The differential will not be covered by Florida’s popular Bright Futures Scholarship.
“The way to prosperity is not forged by squeezing the people more than they’ve already been squeezed,” Lawson stated. “The state needs to step up to its obligations and leave the people’s pockets alone.”
Former Gov. Bob Graham also brought attention to the possibility that the differential plan could lead to a net loss in money for state universities. According to the St. Petersburg Times, he “fears the Legislature will raise tuition on one hand and then cut its contribution toward state university spending on the other.”
Ammons appears to be leaning toward recommending a differential tuition bump
In last Friday’s FAMUan, Ammons voiced support for Crist’s plan and said that FAMU could use the new revenue.
"These funds can be used for new faculty positions that will reduce class sizes and provide much needed salary increases for our faculty," he said.
Ammons added that the money could be used to provide more need-based aid and academic support services to help students remain in college and graduate in a timely manner.
Despite the university administration’s good intentions, a tuition increase could prove to be a very risky option for FAMU.
The Florida Legislature generally gives every university the option of increasing tuition by a small, differential rate of approximately 5-10 percent each year that is covered by Bright Futures.
In past years, the FAMU Board of Trustees has voted against implementing such optional hikes on several occasions. Trustees and administrators feared that the increases would hurt the nearly 80 percent of FAMU students who are on need-based financial aid.
Numbers provided by the Divisions of Student Affairs and Fiscal/Administrative Affairs at board meetings over the past five years demonstrated how tuition increases forced many FAMU students to enroll in fewer classes due to a lack of funds. That trend put FAMU’s state enrollment appropriations in danger since the legislature funds students based on credit hours rather than the total headcount.
Additionally, rising college costs have led some students to actually drop out of FAMU. That creates a serious problem for the university’s retention and graduation rates.
Ammons has not yet announced whether he will recommend that FAMU's trustees implement the new differential tuition hike.
“This move puts higher education even further out of reach,” Lawson said. “Florida ranks among the highest for foreclosures, job loss, and bankruptcies. Dumping tuition hikes into the laps of students and their families is the wrong move at the wrong time. It’s the latest in a long line of bad moves shifting the state’s funding obligations down to the people, and the people are suffering enough.”
Crist’s proposal will open the way for every state university to increase tuition by up to 15 percent that goes beyond the rates set in the annual appropriations bill. The differential will not be covered by Florida’s popular Bright Futures Scholarship.
“The way to prosperity is not forged by squeezing the people more than they’ve already been squeezed,” Lawson stated. “The state needs to step up to its obligations and leave the people’s pockets alone.”
Former Gov. Bob Graham also brought attention to the possibility that the differential plan could lead to a net loss in money for state universities. According to the St. Petersburg Times, he “fears the Legislature will raise tuition on one hand and then cut its contribution toward state university spending on the other.”
Ammons appears to be leaning toward recommending a differential tuition bump
In last Friday’s FAMUan, Ammons voiced support for Crist’s plan and said that FAMU could use the new revenue.
"These funds can be used for new faculty positions that will reduce class sizes and provide much needed salary increases for our faculty," he said.
Ammons added that the money could be used to provide more need-based aid and academic support services to help students remain in college and graduate in a timely manner.
Despite the university administration’s good intentions, a tuition increase could prove to be a very risky option for FAMU.
The Florida Legislature generally gives every university the option of increasing tuition by a small, differential rate of approximately 5-10 percent each year that is covered by Bright Futures.
In past years, the FAMU Board of Trustees has voted against implementing such optional hikes on several occasions. Trustees and administrators feared that the increases would hurt the nearly 80 percent of FAMU students who are on need-based financial aid.
Numbers provided by the Divisions of Student Affairs and Fiscal/Administrative Affairs at board meetings over the past five years demonstrated how tuition increases forced many FAMU students to enroll in fewer classes due to a lack of funds. That trend put FAMU’s state enrollment appropriations in danger since the legislature funds students based on credit hours rather than the total headcount.
Additionally, rising college costs have led some students to actually drop out of FAMU. That creates a serious problem for the university’s retention and graduation rates.
Ammons has not yet announced whether he will recommend that FAMU's trustees implement the new differential tuition hike.
NOTE: FAMU's retention and graduation rates can be compared and contrasted with the rest of the State University System's through the data available here.
"Additionally, rising college costs have led some students to actually drop out of FAMU".
ReplyDeleteI am just curious what the numbers are and your source of information for this comment? Plus hos does this compare to other SUS Universities?
Thanks, the complete data helps to be understand the issues and problems
The tuition deliberations for FAMU's Board of Trustees take place no later than July 31 of each year.
ReplyDeleteThe university hasn't published transcripts online but the video from many of those meetings should still be on FAMCAST (which is down today).