A bill that would allow Florida-born U.S. citizens to pay in-state college tuition fees regardless of the immigration status of their parents, died yesterday in the Florida Senate committee on Higher Education. Sen. Steve Oelrich, a Gainesville Republican who chairs the committee, interrupted a 20-year-old Miami Dade College student, Carla Montes, during her emotional testimony. Montes [...]
Now that the drama over USF Polytechnic is behind us (at least for now,) higher education officials are back to focusing on less showy things…like helping more Florida students to graduate successfully and get good-paying jobs. That last part is the mission of Florida College Access Network (Florida C.A.N.) They’ve issued “A Call for Leadership” [...]
A new book is making a claim against a college admissions staple: the SATs. “SAT Wars” author Joseph Soares says SAT scores are weak predictors of college performance. And he argues the high stakes test tends to cater to white, male students with upper income backgrounds, according to the New York Times. His book points to [...]
As college students “Occupy USF” this afternoon, one of their biggest complaints is the rising cost of tuition. Yes, it’s up…but it’s still cheaper to go to college in Florida than just about anywhere else. Our friends at The Florida Current have come up with a cool graphic showing the tuition trends, which they’re allowing [...]
Why should a student need a parent to fill out a financial aid application to renew a merit-based scholarship if the student pays for his or her education? And why should a parent put their personal information at risk if they receive no benefit from the scholarship? That’s what Palm Beach County resident John Loeffler [...]
A Polk County business group overwhelmingly supports the University of South Florida Polytechnic’s bid to create a new state university independent from the USF system, according to the Lakeland Ledger. State Sen. J.D. Alexander, chairman of the Senate budget committee, rallied support for an independent school after a survey of students and faculty showed a [...]
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft told two state Senators that any audit of USF Polytechnic is up to the regional campus chancellor. Republican state Sens. Paula Dockery and Mike Fasano asked Genshaft to audit USF Polytechnic after learning the school hired regional chancellor Marshall Goodman’s son to run a business incubator program. The [...]
Below is the lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center challenging Florida’s college tuition rules. The group argues that children of undocumented immigrants should not be charged out-of-state tuition despite those students being both U.S. citizens and Florida residents. StateImpact Florida profiled one such student in August.
Influential state Sen. J.D. Alexander made his pitch for a separate Polk County university to the State University System Board of Governors Thursday. Alexander, R-Polk and chairman of the Senate budget committee, wants the University of South Florida Polytechnic to split from the USF system. WUSF radio’s Steve Newborn reports: So far, the site of [...]
Seminole County could turn classroom thermostats all the way up and athletes may have to pay to wear their school’s uniform. The wife of a Polk County Tea Party congressman led a failed effort to raise money for college counselors whose positions were eliminated. Many students can no longer walk to catch the bus after [...]
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