BOG raises white flag on tuition lawsuit

The Florida Board of Governors has officially backed out of a lawsuit that led state lawmakers to treat it like a public enemy.

Under the “leadership” of former members Carolyn Roberts and Sheila McDevitt, the BOG made the politically suicidal decision to sue the Florida Legislature for control of tuition. Legislators went from treating to BOG as if it didn’t exist to being openly hostile against its members.

In the wake of the new “differential tuition” law, the BOG no longer needs to win the lawsuit to achieve its goal of taking the SUS tuition rate sky high.

The differential law permits every public university to hike tuition by an up to 15 percent "differential" that goes beyond the rates set by the legislature in the annual appropriations bill. The differential will not be covered by Bright Futures.

FAMU’s Board of Trustees jumped to implement the differential despite ample evidence that it will probably force students to take smaller course loads.

FAMU’s housing shortage makes college very expensive for the student body. Most students come from families that make $30,000 or less per year. But FAMU trustees simply ignore that fact and continue to approve big tuition and fee hikes that students can’t afford. That has led FAMU students to simply take smaller course loads, which hurts tuition revenue and slows students down student progress toward graduation.

The differential also threatens to put a hole in FAMU’s recruitment budget by making it much more expensive to provide full tuition scholarships for in-state National Achievement Scholars and other top-performing high school students who are being aggressively recruited by wealthier universities.

The threat of the BOG implementing big tuition increases that FAMU students can’t afford is over. That harm is being done by FAMU trustees who ignore how the tuition hikes are hurting the university’s graduation rate and budget.