Florida State U. Won't Raise Tuition, as Budget and Governance Issues Persist

Higher-education officials in Florida gave the state’s public universities the go-ahead this year to raise their tuition to help deal with a statewide budget crunch, but at least one institution is taking a pass. The Board of Trustees of Florida State University on Thursday voted down a tuition increase of up to 5 percent for the spring semester, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Florida State’s president, T.K. Wetherell, said the university should forgo the higher revenue because of uncertainty about what budget cuts legislators may make and because a lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s authority to set tuition has not been settled. “This whole thing has been a revolving craps game, to say the least,” said Mr. Wetherell, a former legislator.

The Board of Governors of Florida’s public universities voted in July to take a number of steps to close the budget gap, including raising tuition and joining the lawsuit against the Legislature, which was filed by a former governor and U.S. senator, Bob Graham, and others. At that time, the Board of Governors said the tuition increase could be as much as 5 percent, and the panel is expected to set the exact amount at a meeting this month.

What’s more, it is not clear if Florida State can opt out of that increase. A spokesman for the Board of Governors told the Democrat that the rise would apply to all 11 public universities in the state. —Karin Fischer

Update: The Tallahassee Democrat incorrectly reported that Florida State University voted down a tuition increase for the spring semester. Instead, the university’s president, T.K. Wetherell, said: “Should the Legislature or Board of Governors approve an optional undergraduate tuition increase for spring/summer 2008, FSU will not raise tuition for the 2008 spring semester. If the BOG or the Legislature mandate a tuition increase, FSU will comply.”