TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Tuition increases and varying tuition rates based on a student’s year in school or academic field are among draft proposals being considered by Gov. Rick Scott’s higher education task force.
The panel is scheduled to hold a webinar Friday to discuss those and other suggestions before finalizing its recommendations to the Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature.
The working draft of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education notes that Florida’s tuition rates remain among the lowest in the nation and includes comparisons with universities in other states.
For example, annual tuition is $6,403 at Florida State University and $6,170 at the University of Florida, the state’s two leading research schools. That compares to $7,694 at the University of North Carolina, $10,037 at Ohio State University and $16,006 at Pennsylvania State University.
Tuition at Florida’s then-11 active universities increased by 22 percent, or $202.2 million, from 2007-08 through 2009-10, according to the draft. Over that same three-year period, though, state support dropped by 19 percent, or $443.3 million, for a net loss of $241.1 million.
“If the foregoing conditions persist, it should be understood by all interested parties that Florida’s research universities and, to a lesser extent, all of the institutions are vulnerable to (faculty) ‘raids,’ some of which have already occurred,” the draft says.
Out-of-state universities have been recruiting top professors by offering salaries that Florida’s cash-strapped universities cannot match.
