USF trustees call emergency tuition meeting

Posted Jun 25, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jun 25, 2012 at 05:18 PM

USF trustees are holding an emergency conference call this afternoon to discuss whether to appeal the state Board of Governors decision on tuition last week.

The board approved USF’s request for an 11 percent increase, which raises questions about why they might appeal.

What some could say is that they had planned to ask for a 15-percent hike, but scaled it back because the Board of Governors had warned they weren’t going to go that high.

As it turned out, in a meeting that bordered on the chaotic at times, the board ended up granting four universities their 15-percent requests.

One board member suggested that some of the universities got what they asked for simply because of when their request came up on the agenda.

For each of the previous three years, all 11 state universities have increased tuition by 15 percent. It’s been part of a plan to bring Florida public university tuition up to the national average; it ranks at 45th now.

State lawmakers imposed a $300 million cut on the universities this year, with the assumption that they would all boost tuition by 15 percent.

But this year Gov. Rick Scott pressed hard to discourage tuition increases.

The universities pushed back with the argument that five straight years of increases had cut them to the bone. The tuition hikes made up for some, but not nearly all, of the cuts.

Florida Gulf Coast University’s Board of Trustees decided this morning to appeal the Board of Governors decision.

It had asked for 14 percent and was granted 12 percent.

To read more about tuition and the appeal process, you can go here.