As FAMU continues its push toward the goal of 15,000 students, it stands to receive a big financial boost from a possible trend that could produce stagnant and/or declining enrollments at other public institutions.In 2008, UF announced plans to reduce its undergraduate enrollment by 4,000 over a four-year period. That means it is leaving behind state enrollment dollars that FAMU can now net into its own budget.
Every year, the state legislature funds universities to produce a specific number of credit hours, measured as full-time equivalents (FTEs). According to the State University System’s Glossary, “In Fall or Spring term, an FTE is equivalent to 15 credit hours at the undergraduate level or to 12 credit hours at the graduate level. In the Summer term, an FTE is 10 credit hours at the undergraduate level or 8 credit hours at the graduate level.”
If a university fails to meet its required FTE enrollment by more than five percent for two consecutive years, it loses money. UF went from 52,271 students in fall 2007 to 49,679 in fall 2009, for a total loss of 2,592 or 7.7 percent. The university will fill much of the monetary void with tuition increases.
This is all good news for FAMU, which can now command a larger slice of the State University System’s enrollment funding pie. Florida State and the University of South Florida might also follow UF's lead in the future and cut their enrollments down, which would leave even more state FTE money for FAMU to claim.
Even though UF is using the state’s tough budget situation as an excuse to reduce its enrollment, the real reason appears to be its desire to increase its standing in the magazine-driven “ranking game.” The ranking game rewards universities that reject the largest number of applications, take in students with the highest standardized test scores, and have the smallest faculty-student ratios. Reducing enrollment will help UF in all those areas.
Despite whining from public university leaders who want the current funding formula changed to deemphasize enrollment growth and reward them for chasing elitist magazine rankings, the legislature has resisted. Magazine rankings don’t produce the college-educated workers Florida needs for its economy.
The Board of Governors and many SUS presidents thought they could pressure the legislature to change the funding formula by capping freshman admissions. But, lawmakers simply responded by opening the door for community colleges to launch new baccalaureate programs and pick up the slack.
This year, UF was the only university that did not disregard the previous freshman admissions cap and expand its enrollment. However, other state universities are looking for their chance to mimic UF by cutting down their students in order to up their magazine rankings.
Enrollment growth is still the name of the game in Florida’s education politics. FAMU is positioned to become a bigger winner in future years.
Someone needs to get down here in S. Florida and beat back the trend of counselors and staffers sending students in another direction due to their personal hang-ups. It was a problem 15 years ago, now it's so bad that the Alumni need a substantial ground unit of representatives and recruiters to stand a chance. These students and parents have BEEN THE TARGETS OF THE "COMMUTER SCHOOLS" turned traditional(As we destroy our established traditional campuses). I meet far too many students with the same story of being led elsewhere just out of spite or counselors having no information or connection with FAMU. The Guard is here but only a few are visible. The young ones all flocked to ATL. We need them here and active.
ReplyDelete***Namely- FIU, FAU, UCF, USF and scores of out of state schools.
ReplyDeleteAnd we need to LEAD the state and get into the communities and help people start and maintain their gardens because it's what we should be doing.
ReplyDeleteA bit off topic: We may lose some students to other schools, but I'm just happy these young men and women are choosing to attend any college/university. I only pray they use their talents, gained knowledge, and degrees for the enhancement of our communities.
ReplyDeleteVery true! But the key is that we are losing, or not getting the opportunity to reach "Legacy" students and schools too. Trust me I feel you but the outcomes I'm witnessing in Florida especially with the S. Florida area prove that Florida students and student athletes are a commodity. They come back home in droves, from far flung places, virtually hiding from the community because we've lauded them for leaving Florida -just for the sake, for "going BIG TIME(whatever that means or may be worth)." Apparently not much. I've seen SO many mismatches and if we're honest, we know its serious. They come back, especially our young men, disoriented and feeling used. A small group will do the commuter campus shuffle, but most never get that second look at breaking the chains. I'm tellin' what I see. Perhaps this is a plea for activism Rattlers.
ReplyDeleteIf FSU starts to decrease its enrollment like UF is, FAMU could actually become the bigger school within the next decade.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be something?
Will FAMU have the infrastructure (housing, classrooms, on campus transportation, staffing, etc) to support the growth in student population? I certainly hope there is a plan!
ReplyDeleteFAMU will be able to use the extra FTE money, tuition, and fee dollars that will come along with increased enrollment to help pay for more staffers and professors. Most of the new buildings will have to come from the state. Housing is privately financed, so it will be a matter of getting bonds.
ReplyDeletePeople love to see us take on the excess without the infrastructure. That's what Dr. Humphries had to do. We're doing it now. If you know our history, we've done it. I can't sit by and not demand that we get what our University and State needs prior to the purge.
ReplyDeleteUntil Florida pays for housing, we will never have a serious university system.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing is that we truly have an administration that has a vision for this era. For example, if you agree with Dr. Ammons or not growth to 15, 000 students is what is going to led to more state revenue dollars, because as the RN article has informed us other state schools are placing caps on the students. Now this also puts us in the game to get a better student as well, because UF, FSU, UCF, FIU, etc, are only going to look at the students that are the best and the brightest to achieve their goal of "academic superiority. In saying that, with a cap on enrollment, they will not be able to accept all of these african americans, largely because they are not merely focused on that one minority group. Therefore, with Dr. Ammons' spring recruitment tour, the lack of negative media, and the caps on enrollments from the other SUS schools, FAMU could really be in a position to return to the glory days of the 90s. If this happens, be prepared for the state of Florida to change the rules of the game to support those other SUS schools because we all know "they" truly do not want to see FAMU successful.....especially not at the cost of the decline in the other SUS's schools rankings and national popularity.
ReplyDeleteI can't sit by and not demand that we get what our University and State needs prior to the purge.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Waiting for the extra FTE dollars will be too late because the students will already be on the Hill, and their needs wont wait. The infrastructure for supporting enrollment growth needs to already be present and/or in development. Otherwise FAMU would lose the new students, and subsequently the new FTE dollars, because the school wouldn't be prepared to serve them.
The infrastructure MUST be in place before the net is cast. FAMU has to do its part, but the state has a responsibility in helping to achieve our goals.
The infrastructure MUST be in place before the net is cast.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the state doesn't give additional money to help the infrastructure unless a university can prove that it is growing.
Dr. Humphries had to give the Florida Legislature newspaper clippings about overcrowded classrooms and long lines in Foote-Hilyer in order to push it to pour more money into FAMU's infrastructure. If he hadn't been able to show the legislators substantial growth, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere.
That's not a strategy that's unique to FAMU. UF did the same for years before it decided to cut down its enrollment.
If FAMU doesn't grow, then it will receive multimillion dollar FTE cuts instead of more enrollment funding, E&G money, or new classrooms. That's the way the game works.
What he DID was PUT THEM ON BLAST in PUBLIC. Shamefully, they just took some off the future rations they were planning for A&M. ***One option could be to stop all the -picking about what students do and take their money if the want to be career students. Einstien was. The bast one may even be to waive fees for credits beyond 15. Some states waive fees a student may take beyond full time status. Trending for a couple more "value" classes per semester resulting in higher motivated and commencing student bodies. But we allow these bullies to affectively and effectively discourage. That's the way the SYSTEM works... Besides these "CAPS" have been in place since we were fighting 'ol JEB and his buddy Ward "Fetchin'" Connerly! You remember back when some of our sister (however incestuously estranged) institutions were happy with A&M on a third tier as long as it wasn't them. UF and FSU nor USF wanted to cut enrollment until they were good and ready-even though that was a central part of becoming a pageant school for ratings as a "research intensive" institution. It took a decade and an American economic coup for them to start pulling that lever. And as for the fee waver, back when we had the highest percentage of out-of-state students, we were given grief and told to decrease that by raising the fees. From that hold out came the JUCO invasion for the programs and FUNDING because they wouldn't concede to what the state needed, despite being catered to. One of the reasons that Doc Ammons was a key leader for us, is that he was on the front lines back when all of this was being scripted. He knows who had, and has FAMU and Florida in mind and at heart- as well as the frenemies.
ReplyDeleteNow, that is what they make decisions around. Be creative about that! Careful, you're gonna need a "valid" license for that creativity...It takes a movement and Florida should be tired of this. I want anyone coming to Florida to know that they are gonna see and experience great institutions and a good whippin' in any competition. They act like we are the foe. Hmm.
ReplyDelete