I have to say, I’m quite impressed. There seems to be a renewed commitment to higher education in Florida.
The Florida Legislature this spring got to work and delivered a budget that not only clears out the $95 million debt they owed to the 11 state universities but also handed FAU $203.5 million dollars for next year, according to the Palm Beach Post.
FAU will be getting an 11.5 percent increase in funding from the state, while the average for increase in funding is around 7.3 percent this year. While the Legislature did its job, and we all wait for JEB! not to screw this one up, I have to seriously wonder what FAU is planning to do with their money.
In an editorial that FAU president Frank Brogan wrote to the Stuart News, he not only calmed concern that FAU would check its expansion but also outlined part of FAU’s expected shopping list this next year.
Two major projects in which FAU is taking part are an $11 million oceanographic facility at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce and a $10 million expansion project at the Treasure Coast campus.
These might be some lofty and attainable goals for FAU, but are they good for the University? After all, FAU already has seven campuses in four counties and there are certainly a lot of projects that must be taken care of here first.
On the Boca campus alone there are buildings that need renovation or a good wrecking ball. Not to mention the need for more buildings to take care of the influx of students that are expected to come in for next year and years to come.
Nonetheless, FAU is committed in expansion beyond its already overstretched limits. In fact, if it weren’t for its commitment to expansion, FAU might not have gotten nearly as much money. The expansion project at the Treasure Coast campus is money from the Legislature’s budget. In addition, there’s the $40 million that is going to both Indian River Community College and FAU. That allotment will go towards creating classroom space and research facilities as FAU will be working with IRCC to offer four-year degrees, according to the Stuart News.
It appears that FAU is put in an interesting predicament. Expand or take less money. FAU has chosen “to provide access to top quality higher-education to the people of the seven-county service region, which extends 150 miles,” according to Brogan.
But the more FAU expands, the more its funds have to be stretched. There is no way FAU can provide “top quality higher-education” this way. Programs on certain campuses will suffer because more money has to be taken out of already existing programs to fulfill new promises in order to expand and get more money from the state. Besides which, that money dwindles down in real terms because it’s being divided among increasingly larger numbers of campuses.
As it stands, the money is being divided between seven campuses with very few of them being able to offer a four-year degree to students at just one site. Students must be flexible enough to travel to the other campuses to some degree in order to obtain the required 120 credits in order to complete their baccalaureate.
What FAU needs to concentrate on is improving existing facilities to serve the students currently enrolled. Otherwise FAU will stretch so thin the joke in academia will be that FAU is just like Walgreen’s: there’s one on every corner.
