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Higher education will feel deep budget pains next year
By ADAM AASEN, The Times-Union
May 13, 2008
Fewer students, fewer professors and higher tuitions could be a hallmark of Florida's public universities next school year.
The state's overall budget will have about $7 billion less than the previous year and include a 6 percent decrease in funding for the university system, about $130 million in cuts.
Higher education officials tried to be upbeat, saying the cuts could have been worse, but most agreed drastic cuts will affect schools' quality of education.
The University of North Florida is cutting its operating budget by 3.3 percent, and other schools, such as the University of Florida and Florida Community College at Jacksonville, have planned for cuts of about 6 percent.
St. Johns River Community College will cut its budget by 2.58 percent.
Florida State University is reducing its general budget by 9.5 percent.
Jacksonville University and Edward Waters College are private institutions that do not receive state funding.
Florida legislators approved a 6 percent maximum tuition increase for state schools, and UNF and FCCJ expect to raise tuition to the limit.
For state universities, tuition is expected to rise from $77.39 to $82.03 a credit hour. That doesn't include student fees that can vary depending on the school.
Last year, UNF charged in-state undergraduates $120.23 a credit hour, including fees. In the fall, tuition will rise to $125.83 per credit hour.
FCCJ plans to raise the college credit tuition and fees from $69.75 to $74.20 a credit hour, and SJRCC expects to increase tuition from $72.90 to $78 per credit hour.
Most full-time college students enroll in 12 to 17 credit hours a semester.
Schools with research budgets of more than $100 million, such as UF, Florida State University, the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida, are allowed to charge even higher tuitions. UF and FSU plan to raise tuition 15 percent.
Fewer students
Not only will students be paying more, fewer of them could be accepted into many schools.
UNF has capped freshman enrollment at 2,350 students. UNF could accept more students but won't receive funding for students above the limit.
UNF President John Delaney said enrollment might decrease by 200 students through accepting fewer transfer students. UNF's total student population is about 1,000 less than expected.
For all students, admissions standards will be raised because of the shrinking enrollment, he said.
Students who used to be able to get into their top in-state choices might have to go elsewhere.
At FCCJ, President Steve Wallace said he expects enrollment to continue to grow, but class sizes might be affected.
"We are doing everything we can to serve students," he said. "We're not turning students away."
SJRCC President Robert McLendon said enrollment might grow by 8 to 10 percent because many students might be turned down at other state public institutions.
UF and FSU are planning to decrease enrollment by 1,000 and 1,500 students, respectively.
Faculty, staff cuts
Delaney said UNF will leave many vacant positions unfilled but could not provide an exact number. He said there will be no layoffs.
FCCJ has eliminated 90 positions with about 10 percent of those positions vacant. Wallace said no faculty members have been let go, but several staff members were laid off.
"People in our college community are very concerned about seeing some of these people let go," he said. "I mean, how could they not be?"
UF has probably the worst situation in faculty reduction. About 20 faculty and 118 staff members will be laid off and more than 200 vacant positions will be eliminated, according to the university.
FSU has said it plans to lay off 40 staff members but no faculty members.
McLendon expects at the most three to four positions to be eliminated at SJRCC.
The result of faculty vacancies will mean some schools will offer fewer courses.
UNF has slashed its summer classes from 1,043 to 894 course sections. Delaney said it's too expensive to pay instructors to teach in the summer because of the union contract.
Some offerings also might not make to the fall lineup - such as the music education program that will merge into other departments - because of vacancies, Delaney said.
At UF, some majors will slowly be phased out.
FCCJ and SJRCC officials aren't planning any major cuts in course offerings.
Looking ahead
Shari Shuman, vice president of administration and finance at UNF, said, "there were definitely some good things in the budget," noting that about $1.7 million in state earmarked funds for maintenance should help the school.
Other projects, such as $24 million for UNF's new science and humanities building, made it into the budget.
Delaney said UNF was also able to soften the blow by using its reserve funds, but he said schools can't rely too much on that option because he expects more cuts from legislators next year.
"We saw the recession coming so we were able to plan for these first wave of cuts," he said. "Right now, we're planning for the future because we expect there will be the same tough decisions next year."
adam.aasen@jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-4247
Copyright 2008
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