In an effort to calm tensions that have risen between university administration and some UF students, UF Provost Joe Glover and Student Body President-elect Ben Meyers took to the podium Wednesday.
Speaking to a crowd of about 25 students, the two answered questions regarding block tuition, tuition increases and the overall future of UF.
Block tuition would charge a flat-rate tuition fee for 15 credit hours, even if students take 12 or 18 hours.
Meyers said it’s always great to see students and administration create a dialogue.
He said administrators and students have the same desire to do what is best for the university on all issues.
Students in the crowd disagreed.
They asked questions about uneven student -to- teacher ratios and tuition increases, but block tuition still remained a concern for some students.
“My purpose is not to sell [block tuition] to you today,” Glover said.
He tried to explain the issue and how it would affect specific cases.
He said block tuition would not be imposed on graduate students and it would apply only for the fall and spring semesters. Also, block tuition would affect only full-time students or students who take 12 or more credit hours a semester.
Glover said some of the best initiatives the university has taken have been opposed by students at first.
“People fought like crazy against critical tracking,” he said referring to the system that requires all students to meet certain GPA and class requirements to graduate.
Glover was also asked what the revenue from the tuition increases of the past year and years to come will be used for.
“The general answer to that is: The president always decides,” he said.
But he assured the group that $10 million generated from the tuition increase will be used to hire new faculty this year.
