Block tuition at UF might take one step closer to becoming a reality as Florida’s Board of Governors meets on campus today and Thursday to discuss the measure, among other statewide concerns.
The board, which is the State University System’s highest governing body, will convene at Emerson Alumni Hall for two days of meetings that will touch on issues concerning the state’s universities, such as the question of whether universities should be permitted to offer academic programs located in areas close to other state universities.
Charging market-rate tuition for distance-education graduate students and switching to a block tuition system for undergraduates are two issues to be discussed that would directly affect UF.
At the Thursday meeting, the board will vote on whether to change regulations that would allow university boards of trustees to approve and charge block tuition and market-rate tuition for graduate students taking online distance education classes.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said UF is the only university in Florida pushing for block tuition, a measure that has already proven unpopular with some students.
He said some of the opposition may result from students’ unfamiliarity with the system.
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding about block tuition,” he said. “It does not have any requirement for taking any number of credits.”
