With FAMU preparing to face up to $12 million in additional budget cuts next year, it’s important for Rattlers to understand the limited options the university has for generating new revenue.Lobbying for more general education funds from the legislature: A longshot.
Florida’s budget continues to shrink by billions each year because the state’s two prinicipal sources of revenue, sales and property taxes, are bleeding.
Sales tax collections are down as a result of recent tax cuts and the economic crisis, which means consumers are spending less. Home foreclosures have blown a hole through the property tax base.
While the the GOP-led legislature is slowly warming up to proposals to close special interest tax loopholes, the ice isn't melting fast enough. From all indications, the higher education cuts will get much worse before they get better.
Tuition/fee hikes: Not a chance.
Most of FAMU’s students come from low-income families. When tuition and fees rise, they simply enroll in fewer courses. That trend puts FAMU’s state enrollment appropriations in danger since the legislature funds students based on credit hours rather than the total headcount.
Outsourcing more auxiliary services: A drop in the bucket.
Asking outside companies to provide more of the on-campus student services won’t even begin to cover the multi-million dollar cuts that academic departments are facing. And with students spending less money in response to their own tight budgets, the outside vendors would likely be very disappointed with the return on their investment.
Fundraising: It will help – but not enough.
With Wall Street still limping, many companies have slashed down their donation budgets. FAMU alumni and friends are also experiencing pain in their pockets. With everyone cutting back, the university can’t rely on fundraising to help it stay afloat.
Enrollment increases: The most viable option.
When FAMU takes in more students, it brings more tuition and fees into the coffers. Growth is an especially good idea now that most of Florida’s public universities have capped admissions.
The state’s enrollment funding formula prioritizes growth, which means that revenue stream has become stagnant for all the SUS members that froze their enrollments. FAMU is in a perfect position to take a larger piece of that funding pie.
FAMU’s administration expects to enroll 1,000 more students next year, bringing FAMU close to 14,000. The larger the freshman/transfer numbers are, the better FAMU’s financial picture will be.
Supporting increases in the Hope tuition tax credit and Pell Grant: Two great ways to aid FAMU’s best option.
Based on one of U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign proposals, the Congressional stimulus bill will expand the Hope tuition tax credit from $1,800 to $2,500 and make it partially refundable.
$2,500 would cover more than 75 percent of full-time, in-state undergraduate tuition at FAMU, which is about $3,274. The affordable in-state tuition rate is also available to students in Alabama and the District of Columbia.
The stimulus bill also calls for the maximum Pell Grant award to be increased by $500 to a total of $5,350 on July 1 and $5,550 next year. Most Pell-eligible students come from families that make only $40,000 per year, which about the average family income for FAMU's students.
The net result: FAMU could shift much of its current financial aid budget to other critical areas while receiving an overall revenue bump from tuition and state funding stemming from enrollment growth. The financial aid will also help FAMU's graduation rate by permitting more students to enroll full-time and finish their studies in six years.
If the proposed tax credit and Pell Grant increases are become realities, however, FAMUans need to get out and lobby for them. All FAMUans should also call/email their local Congressional representatives and U.S. senators and ask them to vote for the initiatives.
Obama’s college plan could help FAMU reach 15,000
Increase Student population? Sounds like a good idea except for a few things. FAMU don't have the staff to support the current population now and don't have the infrastructure. FAMU hasn't built a new dorm in years and still a few years away from building one now. Sampson and Young have been out the loop for at least 3 to 4 years now. So yea while that sounds like a good idea what happens when they students get here and be pissed cause they have poor housing and customer service? I support Ammons and all but FAMU to top heavy right now. All the money going to VP, Directors and Associate VP's. Its the little folks that actually do the work and help the students and they haven't they not going do no more than what they paid to do.
ReplyDeleteFAMU hasn't built a new dorm in years and still a few years away from building one now.
ReplyDeleteMost students don't live on campus anyway. Only about 20 percent live in the dorms. They're mainly freshmen.
FAMU don't have the staff to support the current population now and don't have the infrastructure.
We have a shortage of money because of all the cuts we've taken from the state and because of the enrollment declines in recent years.
The problem is only going to get worst unless we get enrollment up and bring in more state dollars.
I think another option is to lobby the stat along with the presidents in the SUS for a state income tax. At this point in Florida, who is it really benefiting not having one; the snow birds that come down one they have retired and don't have a vested interest in the infrastructure of the state.
ReplyDeleteAn income tax should have been implemented a long time ago in Florida. Sales taxes are just too unreliable. As soon as there's some financial pain in the national economy people spend less and sales tax revenue drops.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic. We're now begging and pleading for government money that comes from federal income tax to help bail out Florida.
Most students don't live on campus anyway. Only about 20 percent live in the dorms. They're mainly freshmen.
ReplyDeletehttp://rattlernation.blogspot.com/search/label/housing
According to that we don't have enough housing for that 20 percent.. FAMU been having a housing problem since 1993. This is not a new issues its a very old one and not one I can blame on Ammons cause this only his second year, but it still needs a solution.
We have a shortage of money because of all the cuts we've taken from the state and because of the enrollment declines in recent years.
Again this is a old issue. Financial aid has been under staff for years before the economy went bad. Plus FAMU must don't have to much of a money issues if it can still hire more administrative staff (Sterlin Adams and Lou Murray for example).
The problem is only going to get worst unless we get enrollment up and bring in more state dollars.
I agree with what you saying but at the same time if FAMU can barely handle and process the students they have now adding 1000 or 2000 more not helping the situation. You get them here but now you have to keep them here. You know how many students I hear wanting to transfer from FAMU after their first year here? Again to much money being spent at the top who don't really deal with the these student on a every day basis and not enough ones at the bottom/middle who are the one who actually do the work..
Again to much money being spent at the top who don't really deal with the these student on a every day basis and not enough ones at the bottom/middle who are the one who actually do the work.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that FAMU should make student services and faculty needs a priority as it brings in more students. We all need to hold the administration accountable for doing this.
In all of the conversation nobody dares talk about the overcrowded classes on the lower level wherein teaching becomes rather difficult. Also, simply because students enroll in college doesn't necessarily mean they are prepared to be there. IN many respects the university has to remediate students before the students can even take upper level classes and succeed in them. So much time is spent on uunderprepared students. I know. I teach at the university, and I teach so many students who should prabably have gone to a community college first, gotten the basic fundamentals, then come to the university. An overcrowded classroom does no one any good, least of all the student who can be academically shortchanged in the long run. I know that it takes a great deal of $$ to operate an institution of higher education, but sometimes we need to stop and really examine what's best for the student and not necessarily what's best for the university. And, yes, I know that oftentimes it is difficult ot separate the two, because one functions becomes of the other.
ReplyDeletecorrection on my ^^ post:
ReplyDelete"One functions because of the other."
The budget crunch is hurting FAMU's students every day and is getting worse. Enrollment growth will stop the bleeding. We're short on options to bring in new revenue.
ReplyDeleteAs for the students that are unprepared, that's why FAMU has the AA program in General Studies. Students who need remedial training should start out there.
One or two semesters in General Studies does not (and will not) remediate 12 years of poor academic performance.
ReplyDeleteThe AA program is 2-years. That is the standard length of community college programs. Most of FAMU's AA grads transfer into the regular bachelor's programs.
ReplyDeleteEnrollment growth is NOT the answer to funding issues.
ReplyDeleteWith the current economic situation there is NO guarantee that the legislature with FUND FTE's using the same formula that is currently being used!
If FTE funding (thus enrollment growth) was the answer WHY is the legislature still cutting budgets? Stated differently, we were funding this budget cycle based on some formula which is based on FTE's, right? How many times have we been asked to reduce or budget? The answer is - twice!
Should we take on more students and continue to deprive them of the academic experience they deserve (and pay for) the message we send to the legislature is that we can do it with less funding thus, they will appropriate a lower amount because we will have "theoretically" demonstrated that we can increase our enrollment and operate at a lower FTE funded amount.
With the current economic situation there is NO guarantee that the legislature with FUND FTE's using the same formula that is currently being used!
ReplyDeleteThere never any guarantee. The legislature is free to change its funding formula at any time. But it has not done so.
If FTE funding (thus enrollment growth) was the answer WHY is the legislature still cutting budgets?
Because the legislature is cutting down the Education and General (E&G) funds. FTE funds are still available.
The universities that have frozen their enrollments want to change the FTE funding formula because they can't get any more of that money unless their enrollment goes up.