Florida universities could raise undergraduate tuition for the first time in nearly a decade as state leaders look for ways to make up a projected $2.7 billion budget shortfall.
State lawmakers and members of the board that oversees Florida’s university system are floating the idea of raising tuition at a time when many classes are taught online-only and students and their parents may be struggling financially.
Florida’s public institutions boast one of the lowest undergraduate tuition rates in the nation, higher only than Wyoming, according to the Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system. The rate for in-state undergraduates, currently $105.07 per credit hour, is established in state law.
New Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson described the prospect of increasing university tuition as “a viable opportunity,” after a reporter asked him about it during the Legislature’s orientation session last week in Tallahassee. He pointed to the ongoing state budget crisis and the underfunded foster care system.
“We want to make sure we maintain a very high level of higher education, but at the same time we have kids that are in and out of foster care because we don’t have resources to manage that system,” said Simpson, a Republican from Pasco County.
The last increase, which amounted to 1.7%, took effect in the fall of 2013, the Board of Governors heard during a meeting in September. Holding down tuition was a priority for former Gov. Rick Scott, who also called for a cap on student fees in 2017.
But the state university system could receive less funding from the state this year, owing to a decrease in tax revenue collected during the pandemic.
“We all know that the state of Florida, like our nation for that matter, is feeling a fair amount of stress with regard to the economy and there’s a reasonable expectation, a real expectation, that revenues will be down,” board member Brian Lamb said during a meeting in September.
Over the past several years, tuition has remained flat as the university system relied on receiving a greater share of its revenue in the form of tax dollars from the state, member Eric Silagy said.
“Should we be looking at some point at adjusting tuition to pay for that difference rather than going back to the Legislature over and over again to make up or push on the universities more for really looking internally and how do you reduce expenses,” Silagy asked, noting the system asked institutions to cut back a decade ago during the Great Recession.
But Board of Governors member Norman Tripp said in the past the system offset state cuts by raising tuition, making up the deficit “on the backs of the students.”
“It’s taken us a long time to reverse that and I think we have to be very, very careful that we don’t go back to that type of a scenario,” Tripp said.
House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, gave tuition a nod in his speech during last week’s session, suggesting students should pay less for courses that will help train them for fields deemed high-demand.
“Our taxpayer-funded colleges and universities should not be job training centers, but they also should not divorce themselves from the economic needs of our state,” Sprowls said. “While our public universities should offer a full range of degree options, it does not follow that we should subsidize every degree to the same degree.”
Students across the country could see tuition increases in the coming years as states try to make up budget deficits caused by the pandemic, said Michele Streeter, senior policy analyst for the Institute for College Access and Success, a non-profit organization that advocates for affordability and equity in higher education. Many states also enacted tuition hikes a decade ago, as the Great Recession created similar gaps in state tax revenue.
“I don’t think the story is that states are actively trying to harm or squeeze students or reduce the affordability of their state institutions,” Streeter said, though for states facing a shortfall, “the obvious thing to turn to is tuition.”
But, she added, many families are struggling financially and may need affordable in-state tuition now more than they did when the economy was doing well.
“This is the moment in which students and families are least equipped to cover additional tuition costs,” Streeter said.
Some Florida universities have received fewer applications this fall, a decline some have attributed to Florida’s insistence that students applying for 2021 admission submit scores from the SAT or ACT after many exam sessions were canceled in the spring and summer. Florida is the only state that has not amended that requirement for admission to public universities next year.
But it’s unclear whether that trend will hold: At the University of Florida, the number of applications for fall admission received before the Nov. 16 deadline increased 3.6%, the Gainesville Sun reported last week. Last month, the school said it had received 23% fewer freshman applications. But at the University of Central Florida, which has a rolling admission policy and will continue to accept applications for fall until May 1, the number submitted is still 22% below what the school received at this time last year.
anmartin@orlandosentinel.com
