Tuition to spike next year

Everything is going up, your bank account is going down and things might only get worse.

As UCF suffers from stimulus money expiring and federal support lessening, students may see a significant spike in tuition pricing to balance the budget, one survey says.

In July, the close of the 2011 fiscal year, the school will see the end of federal stimulus money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed into law in early 2009.

Since the ARRA's introduction, stimulus funding has amounted to more than $37 million for UCF, including more than $1.3 million specifically.

Soon those funds will evaporate, leaving UCF without the extra figures to stimulate its checkbook in the coming fiscal year.

Besides directly affecting the university, the end of the ARRA also means budget problems for the state, which is the largest single source of university funding, said Fred Kittinger, associate vice president for University Relations and Director of State and Local Government Affairs.

In November, the National Conference of State Legislatures estimated that states will have $37.9 billion less stimulus dollars to work with this next year — creating large gaps in more than one state budget. The NCSL is calling this issue the "ARRA cliff."

According to the Florida Board of Governors website,  as a result of state and local governments suffering budget cuts reaching as high as 8.6 percent, the State University System has consequently lost more than $500 million in state appropriations in the past four years.

The Florida BOG also said that a loss of federal stimulus funds to state governments means that universities are likely to see more severe budget cuts this year than in previous ones since the start of the recession.

"UCF has been dealing with state-mandated budget reductions for quite some time, and it is likely that more cuts will occur in the 2011-12 fiscal year," said  Grant Heston, assistant vice president of UCF News & Info.  "Moving forward, we will continue our conservative and proactive budget strategy that has helped UCF weather this economic storm."

Since July 2007, UCF has had more than $77 million of state appropriations cut from its budget. These cuts represent the loss of 27 percent of recurring state support, according to UCF's Budget Resource Center.  

According to the Budget Center, the cut is equivalent to $100,000 being slashed from UCF's budget every day for two years.

A survey released last Thursday by Moody's Investors Service said that with the loss of federal stimulus funding and the cuts in state appropriations as well as tapered private contributions, universities may rely more heavily on tuition pricing to help close budget deficits.

"If I'm paying that much to go to school, I want that experience to be quality," senior political science major Rachel Masri said. "I can't find a parking spot ... I'm a senior and I can't get the classes I want, which is ridiculous."

Florida universities have some of the lowest tuition rates in the country; out of the 50 states, Florida ranks number 48, according to The College Board's annual survey of colleges.

In an attempt to bring Florida university tuition up to the national average, on June 1, 2009, former Gov. Charlie Crist signed Senate Bill 762, which allows universities such as UCF to increase tuition up to 15 percent every year.

Three years before the bill was passed, UCF tuition increased an average of about six percent each year. In 2009 after the bill was signed, UCF increased tuition by more than 14.5 percent.

Kittinger said every time tuition is increased, one-third of the percentage increase goes directly into financial aid for student assistance.

Although UCF's budget and tuition increases have not yet been decided for the coming fiscal year, UCF lobbyists in Tallahassee are fighting to keep tuition as realistic for everyone as possible.

"That's always a real life balance we're trying to maintain," Kittinger said.

During the session, however, the state also has a say in how much tuition is increased, and could propose a higher percentage than UCF lobbyists initially come to the table with.

"I am not that bothered by a tuition hike… The main reason for this is that … tuition is comparably low as it is," said Eric Garrett, a senior philosophy major. "I think most people who complain about tuition do it out of sense that higher education is owed to them… I believe it to be a privilege that is quite worth the cost."