March 22, 200719 yr http://www.miamiherald.com/458/story/48749.html State universities could charge students a special tuition fee that would not be covered by Bright Futures scholarships, under a bill that passed its first test Wednesday despite dire predictions that it could bankrupt the Florida Prepaid College program. The legislation, which passed a Senate committee by a narrow vote, would give state universities the power to charge students a fee -- as much as $500 a semester -- to fund academics, but would not technically be classified as tuition. That means the money would come not from state programs but from students' pockets. ''We all realize that tuition in the state of Florida is very much lower than anywhere in the country,'' said Sen. Steve Oelrich, a Gainesville Republican. ``We just need to give our universities the tools they need.'' The bill is the latest strategy of the University of Florida to fatten school coffers and propel the college into the ranks of top national public universities. The UF plan is to charge students an additional $500 a semester -- a 40 percent tuition increase -- that would pay for more professors and academic advisors. UF's ambitions could have repercussions for every student in the state system. The legislation would allow any state school to follow the same path as UF in getting approval to charge such a fee. Oelrich told the Senate Higher Education Committee that every one of the 11 state universities supports the bill. The Florida Board of Governors, which governs the state university system, already has endorsed the plan. But officials from Prepaid, a state program that allows parents to make payments on a college education at a locked-in tuition rate, aren't as enthusiastic. Stanley Tate, the former legislator who authored Prepaid in 1988, told the committee that the bill would undermine Prepaid and price out low-income families who rely on the program to send their children to college. ''This is another word for tuition,'' Tate said. ``A thousand dollars is a huge amount of money to a poor person. You've got to understand what it means to the low-income minority.'' Prepaid chairman Ted Hoepner told committee members that the program's managers feel obligated to deal with the fee, either by paying it as if it were tuition or by having the Legislature exempt current policyholders from having to pay it. He said that if all universities charged the fee, it would wipe out reserves, with the responsibility to pay Prepaid contracts ultimately falling to the Legislature. If Prepaid policyholders end up having to pay the fee, Hoepner said he expects a class-action lawsuit. ''At the end of the day, a promise is a promise,'' he said. The bill passed by just one vote. Sen. Jim King, a Republican from Jacksonville, said no change to the legislation would persuade him that it's a good idea. He said it puts the state at too much of a financial risk. ''This is a 50 percent increase in tuition no matter what you call it,'' King said. ``It's a sinister way of raising tuition.'' Complete and utter bull sh*t if you ask me. Ill be really pissed if this passes.
March 22, 200719 yr this idea enjoys suppoty from members of both parties and the two power schools in florida , while i think there is a valid point about uf and fsu's tution being low in relation to comparable schools i dont support this bill and neither does gov crist
March 22, 200719 yr UF kinda wanted to keep other Florida universities from doing the same thing. At least this new fee won't impact me. Also, UF cut national merit money by a whole ton. Hopefully all these new charges don't impact quality of applicants down the road.
March 22, 200719 yr Gainesville comes to Tallahassee crying for more money. How about UF make do with what they have or go and seek a formal tution increase? These tack-on fees are not good!
March 23, 200719 yr Gainesville comes to Tallahassee crying for more money. How about UF make do with what they have or go and seek a formal tution increase? These tack-on fees are not good! it is not just uf , fsu's president i believe supports it as well because they intend to do the same thing
March 23, 200719 yr OH NO!!!!!!!! 500 bucks a semeseter. Yawn. Sorry if your so rich that 500 extra dollars doesn't bother you. The average college student usually can barely afford their current tuition. Which is why many people choose to go to schools like FIU where u only pay like 2000 a year.
March 23, 200719 yr Gainesville comes to Tallahassee crying for more money. How about UF make do with what they have or go and seek a formal tution increase? These tack-on fees are not good! it is not just uf , fsu's president i believe supports it as well because they intend to do the same thing FSU really doesn't have the same justification as UF to increase tuition. Heck, I turned down a whole lot of extra money that FSU offered me and went to UF instead. This could actually be a good way for FSU to draw some of the more non wealthy students away from UF.
March 23, 200719 yr OH NO!!!!!!!! 500 bucks a semeseter. Yawn. Sorry if your so rich that 500 extra dollars doesn't bother you. The average college student usually can barely afford their current tuition. Which is why many people choose to go to schools like FIU where u only pay like 2000 a year. The average college student doesnt pay 2000 a year in tuition neither. If the average college student was paying 2000 a year in tuition, there wouldnt be nearly as much debt racked up by students upon leaving college. If people are so poor, there are plenty, and I mean plenty of options to get various forms of financial aid. Its designed mostly for these poor people. Oh wait, college loans are probably bad. Oops. Again. Yawn.
March 23, 200719 yr OH NO!!!!!!!! 500 bucks a semeseter. Yawn. Sorry if your so rich that 500 extra dollars doesn't bother you. The average college student usually can barely afford their current tuition. Which is why many people choose to go to schools like FIU where u only pay like 2000 a year. The average college student doesnt pay 2000 a year in tuition neither. If the average college student was paying 2000 a year in tuition, there wouldnt be nearly as much debt racked up by students upon leaving college. If people are so poor, there are plenty, and I mean plenty of options to get various forms of financial aid. Its designed mostly for these poor people. Oh wait, college loans are probably bad. Oops. Again. Yawn. FIU yearly tuition when i was there was about 2000 a year for 30 credits. FIU is a florida school, this bill is about florida schools. So, again, unfair for the students, and people chose to go to schools like FIU so they dont have to take out loans.
March 23, 200719 yr Author I go to FIU and it costs about $450 for a 3 credit class and thats on the low side. In a year there are 4 semesters. 4 x $500 is $2000 more a year. At FIU's College of Business they are forcing most of their curriculum to what is called a 'hybrid' format. Where half the class is done on the internet and the other half in a classroom. The downside is that FIU charges an additional $300 a CLASS for this. FIU doesnt offer many business classes non-hybrid. This is an additional $1200 a semester already. I have the FLorida Pre-paid college fund that my parents got me when I was just in elementary school. Purpose of that was to lock in a rate for a college education so that I would not have to get 'loans'. Now I dont think its fair to be charge this amount, on top of what I am paying already. Its bull sh*t. Sorry if I dont have the means that you do.
March 23, 200719 yr All the Florida schools basically charge the same tution (about $110 a credit hour) and all should continue to charge the same. If UF wants to raise tuition, they should go through the system and get all the other schools on board so that everyone grows together. FIU wants a medical school, FAMU needs a new Pharmacy College facility, USF & UCF could use more facilities for all their programs.....the list goes on. Everyone gets an increase and everyone benefits. No special fees!
March 23, 200719 yr OH NO!!!!!!!! 500 bucks a semeseter. Yawn. Sorry if your so rich that 500 extra dollars doesn't bother you. The average college student usually can barely afford their current tuition. Which is why many people choose to go to schools like FIU where u only pay like 2000 a year. The average college student doesnt pay 2000 a year in tuition neither. If the average college student was paying 2000 a year in tuition, there wouldnt be nearly as much debt racked up by students upon leaving college. If people are so poor, there are plenty, and I mean plenty of options to get various forms of financial aid. Its designed mostly for these poor people. Oh wait, college loans are probably bad. Oops. Again. Yawn. FIU yearly tuition when i was there was about 2000 a year for 30 credits. FIU is a florida school, this bill is about florida schools. So, again, unfair for the students, and people chose to go to schools like FIU so they dont have to take out loans. Life is not always about fairness. Basically people want a top class education at pennies on the dollar. Makes perfect sense. In addition to loans, there are plenty of scholarships and grants out there that are catered to these same very people. Be proactive and not just reactive. The bill is to bring in professors (aka better ones) and improve the academics of the schools. I guess the schools should find the money tree and pay for it. Again and especially in the academic world, if you want that top quality education, you have to brunt some of the costs. Fair or not, thats reality.
March 23, 200719 yr one way or another tuition is going to go up state wide significantly because tuition for public universities comparatively speaking is cheap in relation to just about every other state .UF imparticular has a comprehensive goal to become a top ten university part of the plan includes a significant increase and fee's and tuition , i understand both sides of the argument but you cant have your cake and eat it as the previous poster indicates . What would be nice if wages actually rose to keep up with the cost of living that would help defray some of the necessary increases in tuition plus students always have the option to go to a community college 2 years at a major university is cheaper than 4 ! ....for purposes of full disclosure i am not wealthy , paid for my education using loans , scholarships, and grants btw if you think undergrad is expensive go to grad school the tuition is double and the books will cost you well over 1000 bucks a semester .
March 23, 200719 yr IrishHarrington, FSU has its Pathways of Excellence plan as well, but all the other schools in the system have their goals. If UF and FSU raise their rates, all the other schools should as well and start rolling out their large goals and projects. http://pathways.fsu.edu/
March 24, 200719 yr IrishHarrington, FSU has its Pathways of Excellence plan as well, but all the other schools in the system have their goals. If UF and FSU raise their rates, all the other schools should as well and start rolling out their large goals and projects. http://pathways.fsu.edu/ (they will)....To remain competitive in state and to compete with out of state institutions tuition ,whether it come in the form of a direct increase or a "fee" ,at all state schools will rise it is inevitable . It is a difficult balance between providing a quality education and affordable education sadly i think these goals are becoming mutually exclusive .
March 24, 200719 yr Instead of making it so Bright Futures doesn't cover the fee, they could always make Bright Futures a little harder to get. It's almost a joke how many people qualify for 100% Bright Futures nowadays.
March 24, 200719 yr What would be nice if wages actually rose to keep up with the cost of living that would help defray some of the necessary increases in tuition amen to that.
March 25, 200719 yr Why don't they funnel off some of those fat cat revenues the colleges receive for their athletics programs and put it back into their own schools? Wouldn't that help pay for some of the funds they need instead of bleeding out the people (once again)?
March 25, 200719 yr Yenta, With all due respect, but Florida's tuition is very low and taking a shot at athletics is not warranted. Our state university system is expanding and every school should set a big goal (like opening a medical school for example) and stick to it. Then all the schools should go and get the state credit hour rate raised to meet that. NO SPECIAL SCHOOL-SPECIFIC FEES!
March 25, 200719 yr It's not as if Florida schools are spending money on athletics at the expense of academics.
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