UCF President John Hitt announced on Wednesday that UCF won't be admitting any more freshmen in 2008 than they admitted in 2007.
In addition, Hitt put a freeze on hiring faculty and staff.
Hitt made the announcements after the Florida Board of Governors decided on a statewide freshmen enrollment freeze for the 2007 and 2008 academic year at a meeting Tuesday.
The freeze comes as a response to what some are calling a budget crisis, with a projected loss of 4 to 10 percent of state appropriations.
Should the cuts come through, the BOG also voted to raise tuition, a historic decision that came the same day it decided to join the lawsuit challenging the Legislature's ability to set tuition.
A 4 percent cut would translate into a projected reduction of $12 million in UCF's legislatively appropriated budget. State agencies also have been asked to prepare for the possibility of a 10 percent cut, which would translate into a projected reduction of $29 million for UCF.
"Except for crucial positions approved by the provost or me, the hiring freeze, which becomes effective immediately, will apply to all faculty and staff positions at all UCF campuses and centers," Hitt wrote in a memo. "Positions funded from non-state sources, such as auxiliaries or contracts and grants, are exempt so long as the positions continue to be funded from non-state sources."
Bill Edmonds, director of communications for the Board of Governors, said the problem is simple: Universities aren't getting the funding they need.
"[Student] tuition only covers a fourth of undergraduate education, the other three-fourths is paid by the state," Edmonds said. "Since we will not be receiving that money for a couple of years, we will be unable to hire the faculty needed or offer the courses we need for students to graduate on time. What this means is we're not going to be adding larger amounts of freshmen every year, as we have done."
The students who are enrolled into universities without the subsequent funds from the state are considered unfunded students. There are currently more than 5,600 unfunded students in Florida's 11 public universities. Unfunded students will not be accepted in the semesters ahead.
"There is just no getting around that our university system is not well funded," said Aubrey Jewett, the assistant chair of the political science department. "I think [Crist] kind of came to recognize that when he did approve the differential tuition.
"It was just somehow ironic that he approved the differential tuition … yet vetoed the relatively small 5 percent."
The Board of Governors also called for a statewide university hiring freeze, effective immediately; however, the Security Task Force, which was put in place after the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the wildfires that swept through Florida, calls for additional counselors and additional officers at the police department.
"If they so wish, each department can submit exemption forms to fill these positions," said Chad Binette, assistant director of UCF News and Information. "When the time comes that the counseling center and the P.D. feel that they are ready to hire on additional faculty, they will submit those forms to the dean or director of their department."
At that point the dean or director will send the exemption request to the vice president responsible for personnel action within the department. If all approve, the last step is to seek the approval of the UCF provost or executive vice president.
President Hitt also told UCF departments to prepare for a budget cut of a minimum of 4 percent. He has left it to the discretion of the division heads where to cut the money but strongly encourages that they "eliminate unnecessary travel and monitor discretionary expenditures, and, in order to help with the overall university budget, to be very mindful of energy consumption."
Editor-in-Chief Abe Aboraya contributed to this article.
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