UF may have to limit the number of incoming freshman next fall if statewide recommendations are passed.
The Florida Board of Governors, the State University System's highest governing body, will consider capping enrollment for the state's 11 public universities at its Tallahassee meeting today, said Bill Edmonds, the board's spokesman.
Edmonds said the measure aims to help universities cope with recent budget cuts and more slashes that would probably be imposed in the near future.
If the motion passes today, the board will set limits for each university in the spring after the Legislature finalizes its budget, he said.
"We don't want to have students enrolled for whom we don't get that basic state support," he said.
He said the board hasn't yet decided how strictly it would enforce the enrollment regulation.
"My expectation would be that it would be binding," Edmonds said, "but that is up to the board."
This would mark new territory for the board, which he said has never limited enrollment before.
"It's an unpleasant task, really, but the board has to do what's best for the university system and what's best for the students," he said.
Florida's public universities have one of the worst student-faculty ratios in the country, and it takes students an average of 4.3 years to graduate, Edmonds said.
Because the budget cuts will probably cause faculty layoffs, he said taking in too many freshmen next fall would cause the student-faculty ratio to grow and force students to stay in school even longer.
"That's the worst-case scenario," he said, adding that it's still a legitimate possibility.
Edmonds said the universities couldn't continue enrolling students without sufficient state funding.
The lack of money stemmed from a downturn in Florida's economy, which led to two rounds of budget cuts and anticipated funding problems next year. UF has planned to cut about $40 million this year to make up for state funding shortfalls.
UF Provost Janie Fouke said UF plans to meet its goal of admitting 6,600 freshmen in the fall.
Fouke, who learned of the proposal earlier this week, declined to speculate on how that number might change if the board sets enrollment limits.
As for her reaction if the regulation does pass at today's meeting, Fouke would not comment.
