I must agree with Dan Restrepo’s article about FAU’s expansion. FAU already is stretched beyond its limits with several campuses in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, not to mention Jupiter and the others.

I spent all of my time at the Davie campus watching courses and services dwindle. In fact, we at Davie consider ourselves Boca’s Bastard Child. We pay for parking garages to go up in Boca while we park in the mud. We pay for expansion, while our bookstore is too small to house any books. In fact, half of them are piled on the floor because there isn’t enough shelf and supply space to accomadate 5000 students.

I can only say that FAU student numbers suggest that the expansion pays off in Davie, but not the other campuses. For example, there are two campuses in Fort Lauderdale alone, but those campuses only house about 500 students. Jupiter only serves about 300 students. Let’s say for a minute it cost 17 million dollars to create those facilities, let alone the cost of maintenence, upkeep, faculty, and personel.

To solve that problem, FAU slashes student schedules at these smaller sites. We are forced to put graduation off for a couple years, quit our jobs, transfer to another university, or take classes at multiple campuses. I’ve seen students travel from Jupiter out to Davie just to take one class. What is the use of all these satelite campuses if we are still forced to drive sometimes as much as 500 miles?

Sincerely,Sharon Rinkiewicz, FAU alumnus