Education
‘They’re going to have a hell of a fight.’ Buchanan rejects proposed New College merger
Standing outside of Cook Hall, a historic mansion on the New College of Florida campus, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan decried recent efforts to strip the college of its independence and merge it with Florida State University.
He said college leaders discovered the pending legislation on Monday, just days before it passed the House Education Committee. Filed by state Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, the bill would also merge Florida Polytechnic University with the University of Florida, reducing Florida’s university system from 12 to 10 schools.
“I’m very uncomfortable about someone from another part of the state telling us what we need to do in our backyard,” Buchanan said on Friday, addressing a group of reporters.
If adjustments need to be made, whether it be an increase to the enrollment numbers or a change in tuition costs, there should be a lengthier discussion in the next legislative session, Buchanan argued.
He said it was wrong to shakeup a 60-year-old school in a matter of weeks, especially without input from the school or its community.
“They’re going to have a hell of a fight on their hands,” he said.
Fine introduced the bill as a cost-saving measure. As he addressed the education committee earlier this week, Fine said tuition was only part of a university’s funding.
“People pay tuition, but that’s not the cost of a degree,” he said. “We give $7 billion a year to our colleges and universities to help fund all kinds of other things.”
Aside from tuition paid by students, Florida spends an average of $28,208 for each degree in its university system. However, it spends nearly $181,000 per degree at Polytechnic University, and nearly $198,000 at New College, according to Fine.
“The cost of providing an education at Florida Poly and New College is an order of magnitude higher than our other schools,” he said at Wednesday’s hearing.
As a school with just over 720 students, the cost per degree is bound to be higher than schools with greater enrollment.
“But it depends very much on the type of degree program,” said Donal O’Shea, the president of New College.
O’Shea stood alongside Buchanan at the campus in Sarasota, after their meeting on Friday morning, to address local reporters.
While a degree may cost the state more at New College than another institution, such as the University of Florida, the cost to students is often less, and the state’s investment is worthwhile, the president said.
“We have students that go into the arts,” O’Shea said. “They go into all areas of business, law, medicine and science.”
It would be harmful, he said, to limit options and stifle diversity in Florida’s university system. The college president said he was open to discussing concerns and reaching an alternative solution, and that New College expected to increase its enrollment to 1,200 in four to five years.
Buchanan and O’Shea expressed the same fear: that students would lose an option for their higher education, and that prospective students might look outside of Florida if the mergers took effect.
“This has a very special national reputation, and we just don’t want to have it flushed down the toilet, from that standpoint,” Buchanan said. “Our goal is to find a way we can all work together and make sure our voices are heard in Tallahassee.”
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