Tuition hike could prompt voter backlash

A recent Quinnipiac University poll had bad news for Florida GOP leaders who are preparing to bump up tuition rates: most voters hate the proposed price increase.

Released last week, the numbers show that 78 percent of Floridians oppose the new “differential tuition” plan being pushed by Gov. Charlie Crist and his Republican colleagues in the legislature.

Late last year, Crist announced a proposal to permit 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 plan would permit FAMU and several other public universities to gradually add a 157 percent increase on top of Florida's current per-credit-hour base tuition rate, hiking it from $82 to $211 by 2013.

Critics of the differential, such as former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, believe it will lead to a net loss for universities. Graham points to the legislature’s history of raising tuition on one hand while cutting multimillions from the State University System’s budget on the other.

At FAMU, tuition increases are unlikely to bring in any new funds. Most of FAMU’s students come from low-income families. When tuition and fees rise, they simply enroll in fewer courses. That results in an overall drop in revenue for the university.

The public’s overwhelming disapproval of the differential plan is sure to become a major issue in the 2010 election. Many Democratic leaders are arguing that the proposed tuition increase is additional proof that Republicans are out-of-touch with Floridians who are suffering from the recession.

Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-Miami), a FAMU alumnus and candidate for the U.S. Senate, could become a key beneficiary of voter outrage against the tuition hike. Meek has spent much of his political career courting working and middle class voters who feel that the GOP-led legislature is starving public education.

Back in 2002, Meek’s championed a constitutional amendment to force the legislature to reduce class sizes in Florida’s overcrowded public schools. Despite vigorous opposition from then-Gov. Jeb Bush, 2.5 million citizens voted for the measure and it was approved.

The differential legislation, along with renewed GOP efforts to scale back the class size caps, could give more momentum to Democratic candidates such as Meek.

More Floridians feeling pain from soaring tuition