{"id":15395,"date":"2012-12-05T12:11:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T17:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=15395"},"modified":"2012-12-05T12:20:42","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T17:20:42","slug":"why-florida-universities-wont-ask-for-tuition-hikes-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/12\/05\/why-florida-universities-wont-ask-for-tuition-hikes-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Florida Universities Won’t Ask For Tuition Hikes This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

University of West Florida\/flickr<\/p>

Dr. Judy Bense, president of UWF, said there will be no tuition hike requests in exchange for more funding from the state.<\/p><\/div>\n

In a rare show of unanimity, Florida\u2019s university presidents say they won\u2019t pursue a tuition increase this year<\/a> if<\/em> the state will give them more funding.<\/p>\n

The presidents came together at the Capitol Wednesday to announce the Aim Higher Campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cFundamentally, the system is underfunded\u2026compared to the rest of the country,\u201d University of North Florida President John Delaney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cApproximately 30 percent is spent less in Florida than compared to the national average on each student,\u201d Delaney said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Judy Bense, president of the University of West Florida (UWF), said the universities would not \u201cseek one penny of a tuition increase this year\u201d in return for a $118-million infusion of cash from the state.<\/p>\n

Gov. Rick Scott has said he opposes tuition increases and has challenges colleges and universities to make higher education less expensive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students and families have been investing more and more in their education<\/a> during these last four to five years of severe reductions in the state budget,\u201d Bense said. \u201cThey have paid the needed and necessary tuition increases. That is not a sustainable path in the long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bense said universities have saved millions of dollars by eliminating programs and consolidating others. There\u2019s no more room for more belt-tightening, she said, without impacting the quality of the programs.<\/p>\n

If the state ponies up the money, universities would be held accountable for achieving specific goals and improving graduation rates.<\/p>\n

Florida State University President Eric Barron said lawmakers need to make higher education funding a priority during the next legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just too important in terms of economic development, in terms of the success of our students,\u201d Barron said. \u201cIf you continue to cut, it will take students a longer time to graduate. That\u2019s the biggest tuition increase that I can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortez Whatley stopped by the news conference before heading off to study for a final exam. He is student body president at the University of Central Florida and the student representative on the Florida Board of Governors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are key to Florida\u2019s future and continued success,\u201d Whatley said. \u201cIt is imperative that we adequately invest in higher education, and thus in businesses and communities in Florida as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Gov. Rick Scott issued a statement saying, “We are pleased to share this important goal with many of Florida\u2019s finest higher education leaders who are committed to holding the line on tuition. We look forward to working closely with them as we put together a proposed budget and other policies for the upcoming legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s 12 state universities enroll 330,000 students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a rare show of unanimity, Florida\u2019s university presidents say they won\u2019t pursue a tuition increase this year if the state will give them more funding. The presidents came together at the Capitol Wednesday to announce the Aim Higher Campaign. \u201cFundamentally, the system is underfunded\u2026compared to the rest of the country,\u201d University of North Florida […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1036,1028,1027,403,1046],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15405,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15395\/revisions\/15405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}