by Steven Katona
College students may get tuition breaks in the future due to Governor Rick Scott’s executive order calling for a change in the State University System.
A report by the Blue Ribbon Task Force ─ a group created by Governor Rick Scott’s executive order 12-104 ─ outlined a different approach in the way Florida’s universities should be supported, which includes removing policies of uniform state funding. In its place, they recommended that university tuition should vary by specific degree programs in the areas where Florida’s economy needs to grow, programs that educate students for the job positions most needed in the state. It would, however, vary by “strategic areas of emphasis,” meaning each university might see different tuition rates per major.
In practical terms, Florida’s executive branch intends to attract economic development through higher education measures, tuition breaks being the main eye candy for parents and future college students.
William ‘Bill’ Proctor Ph.D., one of seven members of the Task Force, said, “There is a proposal that’s incorporated into that report that features high demand, high pay and high need jobs that can be identified right now. And what was proposed was that the universities would lower their tuition as low as they could for those disciplines that met those types of occupations, for at least three years.”
The report also advised that if production costs for these degrees were to rise above the amount the universities charge for lower tuition rates, the state would back their funding and the difference in cost.
After almost seven months of research, the report concludes that, “Wading through the data and various perspectives in search of clear and universally palatable solutions proved hard work. As expected, there emerged no unidimensional or otherwise simplistic answer to meeting Governor Scott’s call for accelerated excellence from our State University System, as the issues are so intertwined.”
Daytona State College professor Dr. MaryAnn Gromoll of the Education Department sees benefits as well as drawbacks if the state follows through with this proposal.
“I have two perspectives. As a professor, I would love to see our students rewarded for going into those fields and getting their tuitions lowered, but as a parent of kids who are willing to go into the more popular and less needed fields, I think that’s very harsh for students who are willing to work hard and for a much lower salary than someone who’s in the much higher needed fields,” she said.
The report is primarily focused on lowering tuition for Florida’s 12 public universities that are under the Board of Governors and the State University System. Once the governor decides what to do with the information, there may also be some state college students that see such breaks, but not as directly as universities in the SUS.
“It’s in the governor’s hands at this point,” Proctor said, just days after the final draft was sent to Governor Rick Scott in early November. “I think we fulfilled our obligation, so it’s now up to the governor to decide what he intends to do with it.”