Market-rate tuition approved for graduate program

The UCF Board of Trustees approved market-rate tuition for the master of science in engineering management degree program at its meeting on Thursday, a decision that will now have to be approved by the Florida Board of Governors.

The program is a graduate program and if the market-rate tuition proposal is implemented, the spring 2014 Orlando cohort is expected to generate $885,000 in revenue, while the UCF Palm Bay cohort would generate $472,000 in spring 2013.

UCF currently has four graduate programs with established market-rate tuition: executive and professional master in business administration, professional master of science in management, professional master of science in real estate and master of science in health care informatics.

Currently, the professional master of science in real estate program is on hold due to a lack of demand.

According to Provost and Executive Vice President Tony Waldrop, any university within Florida’s state university system can request market-rate tuition for up to five programs per year.

“I believe these programs have worked very well, in fact, we’d like to encourage more of these programs,” Waldrop said.

If approved, market-rate tuition for the engineering management degree program will be effective for the January 2013 cohort and the cost will be $29,950 for the 30-credit hour program. This figure was determined by evaluating competitors that offer the same program and by reviewing the budget for the previous cohorts; it is currently not expected to increase between 2013 and 2016.

The program currently operates as a cost-recovery program with a tuition rate of $29,5000 for the fall 2012 cohort.

President John C. Hitt supports establishing market-rate tuition for the program, but does believe the public may not understand the thought process behind the decision.

“We’re going to get hit both ways on this, I expect. People are going to say, ‘there you go again, raising the price of education again.’ Well, no we’re not, we’re trying to change the price to reflect the cost,” Hitt said.

Trustees also discussed UCF’s ever-increasing size, mentioning that some people question whether or not UCF is wise to continue its growth. There are currently 59, 806 students enrolled at UCF, although that number may change between now and then end of October.

“Big is not necessarily better, little is not necessarily better, better is better,” said Al Harms, vice president for Strategy, Marketing, Communications and Admissions.

According to Harms, UCF is getting better. He discussed key indicators of growth, such as competitiveness and diversity, and said that UCF is seeing increases in these areas.

Before the end of his speech, Harms said that UCF has officially acquired the license for WUCF-TV as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

“I think it’s great for the community, great for the state and great for the university,” Harms said.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be Nov. 15 in the Live Oak Center and the next Board of Governors meeting will be Nov. 7-8 at New College of Florida in Sarasota.