A topic that has been discussed pretty sparingly since being passed by both the Florida House and Senate is Senate Bill 1752, which allows UF and Florida State University to raise tuition above the 15 percent maximum currently mandated by the state.
I’ve heard arguments by columnists in the Alligator equating higher tuition to students having better job opportunities and how education should be viewed as more of an investment (forgetting that correlation doesn’t equal causation).
Well, I find fault with that stance. I find fault with the drive to privatize public schools in Florida and across the U.S. and the push to transform institutions of learning into full-fledged corporations more obsessed with marketing than the quality of their institutions.
Will a higher cost for a UF diploma result in better professors and a better learning environment? Overall, do these increases really maintain UF’s integrity as a public university?
Since the introduction of the mandated 15-percent hikes, UF’s rankings have steadily declined and have fallen to a national ranking of 58, according to U.S. News & World Report. Why the hike if no tangible benefit has yet to manifest?
The 45-percent hike proposed by UF President Bernie Machen is a direct attack on working-class families and students, disadvantaged minorities and the accessibility to a quality education at UF for students all over Florida.
Loans are not the solution. Students shouldn’t have to take extra jobs after coming to UF under the impression they are attending a quality university at a reasonable price.
It’s hypocritical for the university to admit a record number of students these past two years and talk about budget shortfalls and the need for more flexibility.
Education may be viewed by many in this nation as a privilege, but I and many others view the access to an affordable education to all as the principle norm of a free society. The administration’s stance on this issue shows its callous, elitist and overall inhuman lack of feeling toward students and potential students.
Students: We must come together and pressure Gov. Rick Scott to veto this bill. Thursday, Students for a Democratic Society will be holding a rally to show the state and UF administration that these moves to decrease accessibility and privatize public education in Florida won’t be taken sitting down.
Eric Brown
Lead organizer for Students for a Democratic Society
