State university officials take aim at slashing book prices, Palm Beach Post

January 25, 2009
By Kimberly Miller


Florida Atlantic University student Ed Fulton figures the bookstore let him off easy this semester - his largest single purchase was an $80 tome on environmental chemistry.

He still spent about $450 on books for his spring classes, and in the fall, he plunked down a titanic $150 for a volume on biology.

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Dallas irm to handle search for new chancellor of Florida universities, St. Pete Times

January 23, 2009
By Donna Winchester

TAMPA — The group that oversees Florida's 11 public universities voted unanimously Thursday to hire a Dallas search firm to aid in hiring a new chancellor for the state university system.

The 14-member committee selected the firm of R. William Funk & Associates to find a replacement for chancellor Mark Rosenberg, who announced his resignation in September.

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Gov. Crist's overdue epiphany, The Ledger (Lakeland)

November 29, 2008


Finally, Gov. Charlie Crist has stopped turning a blind eye to the dire financial plight of Florida's public universities.

The governor this month reversed two years of inexplicable and harmful opposition to raising tuition rates at Florida's 11 state universities and unveiled a "reform" proposal that would, among other things, allow the schools to increase tuition as much as 15 percent a year, but no more than 40 percent in a three-year period. Analysts estimate the tuition hikes could generate as much as $1.5 billion in new and badly needed higher-education funding over the next seven years.

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State universities' leader gives own view on health of system, Miami Herald

By Nirvi Shah
November 23, 2008

Mark Rosenberg has led the Florida university system since 2005, a time marked by budget cuts, turf wars and tuition hikes -- including a bump of 15 percent that Gov. Charlie Crist proposed this past week.

The 59-year-old father of two college-age students (yes, they attend state schools) is stepping down as chancellor in February to return to Florida International University, where he previously served as provost, vice president and acting president.

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State Board deserves say in presidents' evaluations, Tampa Bay Tribune

November 20, 2008

Today the Florida Board of Governors will consider a proposal to involve itself in the annual evaluations of university presidents.

It's not a popular suggestion among some presidents or local university boards of trustees, but it's needed if Florida intends to build a cohesive, well-coordinated state university system that makes the most of available resources.

University presidents are among the most important cogs in the wheel of higher education, but the current system allows them only to be evaluated by their local boards, a process that often doesn't consider how a president's leadership fits into the overall Florida higher education system.

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Fitch Rates State University System Revs "AA," Stable Outlook, Market Watch

November 18, 2008

Fitch Ratings assigns an 'AA' rating to the approximately $60,000,000 of state of Florida, Board of Governors university system improvement revenue bonds (revenue bonds), series 2008A. The 2008A bonds are scheduled to sell competitively or via negotiation on or after the week of Nov. 17, 2008. Fitch also affirms the 'AA' rating on the State University System's (the system) $204.2 million of outstanding parity revenue bonds as follows:

--Florida Board of Education (formerly Florida State Board of Regents) university system improvement revenue bonds series 1997A, 1998, 2001;

--State of Florida (Florida Education System) university system improvement revenue and revenue refunding bonds series 2003A, 2005A, 2006A.

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Universities to revist limits on freshmen, Palm Beach Post

By Kimberly Miller
November 11, 2008


There may be more space in freshman classrooms next fall as university leaders debate this week whether to lift a cap on enrollment that was approved in response to last year's state budget cuts.

In September, State University Chancellor Mark Rosenberg said he wanted to maintain the freeze on freshman admissions because he foresaw at least one more year of budget cuts.

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FSU's Wetherell to seek tuition increase; takes shot at BOG, Tallahassee Democrat

By Stephen D. Price
October 30, 2008

Florida State University is under a hiring freeze and officials will lobby lawmakers to raise tuition for next fall if legislative budget cuts become too severe.

Those were some of the issues FSU President T.K. Wetherell spoke on Thursday during his state of the university address at the 2008 Fall Meeting of the General Faculty.

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University president to serve as interim head of Florida Board of Governors, News-Press (Ft. Myers)

By Stephen D. Price
October 27, 2008

TALLAHASSEE – A president of a Florida university will serve as interim chancellor of the Florida Board of Governors once Mark Rosenberg steps down in February.

During a committee meeting Monday morning, Board of Governors Chair Sheila McDevitt said she will make that announcement in a few days, once the chosen president’s board of trustees is informed of the decision.

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State considers lifting enrollment cap, Gainesville Sun

By Nathan Crabbe
September 30, 2008


State universities won’t solve problems with access to higher education simply by admitting more students, according to a report released Tuesday by an advocacy group for minority students.

Higher education leaders are considering lifting a freeze on freshman enrollment at state universities. ENLACE Florida’s report instead promotes improving graduation rates and expanding options for four-year degrees at community colleges.

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Chancellor's Exit Means Tough Search for State, Tampa Tribune

By Adam Emerson
September 28, 2008

A lot was at stake last spring: The leader of Florida's public universities warned top lawmakers that his schools were weakened by budget cuts and that a planned move by the Legislature to overhaul his system of higher education would erode its credibility.

Those lawmakers snubbed him and ended their meeting together by telling him he was "dismissed."

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Looser enrollment cap urged for Florida universities, St. Petersburg Times

By Donna Winchester
September 26, 2008

TAMPA — A member of the group that oversees the state university system began urging his colleagues Thursday to reconsider a cap on freshman enrollment, a policy the group approved a little over a year ago.

Charles B. Edwards cited record-breaking attendance at Florida's community colleges — even as the state's public universities continue to limit student access — as a reason for turning the enrollment cap decision over to each university's board of trustees.

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Budget cuts another blow to weakened universities, Miami Herald

By Oscar Corral
August 17, 2008

When college students start the fall term at the state's public universities next week, they can expect fewer choices for majors and classes, more crowded classrooms, and a faculty that's being lured away by other states at an alarming rate.

Deep budget cuts imposed by the state Legislature this year have resulted in the elimination of the industrial engineering major at Florida International University, the Diabetes Research and Training Center at the University of Florida, and many others around the state. The money crunch prompted FIU to put its staff on a four-day work week over the summer.

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Florida's skinflint sheepskins, Palm Beach Post

August 10, 2008


Florida has taken pride in offering a college education at a bargain-basement price, but students are starting to get what their parents are paying for.

Consider this statistic:

If Florida's 11 public universities raised their lowest-in-the-nation tuition 1 percent statewide, it would bring in all of $4 million. This year and last year, the Legislature cut $200 million from the universities' budgets. So the colleges would have to raise tuition 50 percent just to make up what they lost.

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Board OKs request to up faculty pay at UF, Gainesville Sun

August 8, 2008
By Nathan Crabbe

JACKSONVILLE - - When the last professor leaves Florida, please turn off the lights.

The situation isn't that dire yet, but the Florida Board of Governors on Thursday acknowledged that state universities face the challenge of fleeing faculty and skyrocketing energy costs.

The board unanimously approved a legislative request for nearly $65 million to raise faculty pay to stem the so-called brain drain. The University of Florida and other state schools have seen faculty departures fueled by budget cuts, estimated at one university to be happening at three times the rate of previous years.

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Florida universities' governing board approves $450 million budget increase, News-Press (Ft. Myers)

By Stephen D. Price
August 7, 2008

JACKSONVILLE — The Florida Board of Governors approved a $3.7 billion budget request Thursday, a $350 million increase over current-year spending.

Officials said they realize requesting a budget increase while the economy is poor may be a pipe dream, but they are obligated to spell out all the State University System's needs.

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Chancellor: Allocate $65.4 million to help stop "brain drain" of Florida university faculty, Treasure Coast Palm

By Scott Travis
August 5, 2008

Florida's budget-strapped universities may deteriorate in quality as other states siphon off the most talented faculty, a top education official says.

Mark Rosenberg, chancellor of the State University System, is recommending that the Legislature allocate $65.4 million to help stop "brain drain." This would mean a 4-percent raise for all faculty if spread evenly across the board. The Board of Governors, the policy making board for public universities, will discuss the proposal at meetings Wednesday and Thursday.

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Board of Governors to request $56.8 million for university pay raises, Independent Florida Alligator

By Katie Sanders
July 31, 2008

Enticing Florida universities’ faculty and staff with pay raises seems to be the method of choice for administrators anxious to solve the state’s intellectual “brain drain.”The Board of Governors, the State University System’s highest governing body, is set to ask for $56.8 million of the 2009–2010 state budget to be allocated for pay raises for faculty and staff of Florida’s 11 public universities.

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Akerman Senterfitt's Sheila McDevitt chairs state university board, Tampa Bay Business Journal

July 7, 2008

Akerman Senterfitt attorney Sheila McDevitt was been elected the new chair of the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida.

The board of governors is the constitutional body created by voters in 2002 to guide the university system.

McDevitt assumes the lead responsibilities on Aug. 1 and will serve for two years, according to a release from Akerman Senterfitt. She replaces as chair Carolyn King Roberts, who will continue as a board member.

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The lady is a champ, Tampa Tribune

July 4, 2008

For most of the past 20 years, Carolyn Roberts has helped oversee Florida's university system. She has fought plenty of battles, but always on the side of what she thought was best for Florida's students.

Roberts' term as chairwoman of the Board of Governors ended the other day, and she turned the reigns over to another no-nonsense, eagle-eyed advocate for a thriving university system, Sheila McDevitt of Tampa. Roberts will remain a member of the Board of Governors until at least 2010.

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