The state of Florida released results from an efficiency study of its public universities.
The Florida Department of Government Efficiency-issued review of the State University System, to be presented in this week’s state Board of Governors meeting, details the operations and spending histories of the 12 Florida public universities.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Wednesday news conference the Florida DOGE team has worked to eliminate millions of dollars in diversity, equity and inclusion expenditures at public universities while cutting “waste and woke ideology.”
The Florida DOGE has cancelled or repurposed over $33 million in DEI-related grants in state universities, the department wrote the same day in a press release DeSantis reposted on X. The department has also identified $10.6 million in grants for community colleges it’s working to repurpose or cancel, the release said.
The governor announced Florida’s DOGE efforts Feb. 24, and he named the review of colleges and universities as one of the department’s primary tasks. The audit’s results would be used to advise the Board of Governors and State Board of Education to eliminate “any wasteful spending.”
The study results show New College of Florida, in Sarasota, had the highest operating expenses per student, with over $83,000 spent in fiscal year 2024. The next-highest was UF at about $45,800 spent per student.
New College has been a source of contention since DeSantis installed several well-known conservative activists to its Board of Trustees in 2023. The new board made Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis ally, president.
UF’s total, though nearly half of New College’s, was significantly higher than the $20,000 average among all Florida universities. The wide disparity between schools, the analysis said, reflects “different levels of efficiency.” The report also noted that UF’s and New College’s high employee-to-student ratios compared to other schools may have contributed to the operational cost differences.
New College had the highest operating expenses per degree at nearly $500,000 in fiscal year 2024, while the University of Central Florida was named the most efficient at about $47,000.
UF was the only school to reach the billions in revenue generated by research at just over $2 billion. UF’s dominance, the report said, reflects the school’s insistence on pursuing research grants and funding. The university also scored highly in revenue per full-time research employee, placing third among its peers.
The study placed UF third in job placement and continuing education of bachelor’s graduates, behind Florida Polytechnic University and the University of West Florida. UF also held the second-highest average starting salary for graduates, at $58,200.
Between 2016 and 2024, Florida public universities’ tuition and fees remained constant at just over $6,000 per year, making it the cheapest in the country. University operating expenses, however, increased by 32% over the last seven years, and the audit lists increases in payroll and labor costs as the reason.
While the amount of students taking out loans for their education has decreased in the past seven years, the average loan amount has increased by nearly 20%, according to the report.
The report concluded that Florida’s universities have responded well to state policies prioritizing student success. Universities could improve budgeting to maximize operational efficiency, the analysis said, and the university trustees should require administrations to track and report key metrics to ensure resources are allocated to priorities.
“Tools created and enabled by this analysis should be used by universities and their BOTs as a starting point to enhance financial transparency and accountability and move towards managing universities as enterprises,” the report said.
The Board of Governors will review the university-related DOGE findings Thursday.
Contact Maria Arruda at marruda@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @mariazalfarruda.
Maria is the Fall 2025 student government reporter for the Alligator. She's a sophomore journalism and political science major at UF and hopes to work as a political correspondent one day! Maria loves to read, hang out with her friends, see her family and go to the gym in her spare time.
