The Florida Board of Governors confirmed the removal of the Latin American and Caribbean scholarship and discussed the findings of an audit reviewing the state universities at its meeting today at the University of South Florida.
DOGE audit findings
The audit, produced by the Department of Government Efficiency, showed UF had the second-highest expenses per student out of the 12 state universities, second to the New College of Florida in Sarasota. Other financial information included total expenses and research spending.
New College was reported to have spent over $83,000 per student in fiscal year 2024. UF landed at about $45,800 spent per student.
Ben Watkins, director of Florida’s Division of Bond Finance, described the audit as “eight months of hard work.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis said in an Oct. 29 news conference that DOGE has worked to eliminate millions of dollars in an attempt to remove “waste and woke ideology.”
The Florida DOGE has cancelled or repurposed over $33 million in diversity, equity and inclusion-related grants in state universities, the department wrote in a press release DeSantis reposted on X, though Watkins didn’t mention DEI in the audit’s findings.
While UF’s average was half of New College’s, it was significantly higher than the $20,000 average among all Florida universities. The report also highlighted an increase in the average student loan amount in the past seven years, which occurred although less students are now taking out loans for their education.
Watkins said UF’s large expense included IFAS, UF Health Shands Hospital functioning and other programs. These functions, he said, were “not attributable to core university operations of educating kids.”
He emphasized balancing priorities to funding and policy in order to make change. Suggesting a boost to performance-based funding, he called on Florida’s education leaders to “not to let perfect get in the way of good enough.”
Watkins referred to the audit as a starting point to “move toward managing universities as enterprises.”
University Boards of Trustees should require their administrations to track and report on key metrics, encouraging accountability, he said.
Though the board didn’t take any action on the audit, board chair Brian Lamb said Watkins will meet with each university individually based on the findings.
LAC Scholarship re-vote
The board also voted to remove the Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship, a decades-old program that allowed students from over 50 countries within the region who receive qualifying scholarships to pay in-state tuition and Florida’s public universities.
In March, UF announced new awards under the program would be discontinued at the request of the state.
Recipients could have saved up to $98,000 across four years with the scholarship, which was created in 1997. Its repeal came as a broader rollback of policies offering nonresident tuition exemptions, according to previous Alligator reporting.
H-1B visa crackdown
The board didn’t address H-1B visas at universities after DeSantis last week called on the board to “pull the plug” on the program.
Following a state-ordered review of university operations, DeSantis’ administration directed the board to implement a crackdown on H-1B visas, which apply to highly skilled foreign workers.
The review’s findings prompted DeSantis to call for tighter restrictions on universities’ use of H-1B visas, which allow American employers to hire college-educated foreign citizens for up to six years, during which employees can apply for permanent residency.
According to federal data, UF sponsored over 250 beneficiaries in the 2025 fiscal year, the highest among public state universities. DeSantis has criticized the prioritization of foreign labor, writing on X, “If any universities are truly struggling to find U.S. citizens to fill their job openings, they ought to evaluate their academic programs to determine why they cannot produce graduates who can be hired for these positions.”
The board’s next scheduled meeting is Jan. 28.
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@thealligator.org. Follow her on X at @s_maharaj1611.
Swasthi is the Fall 2025 university administration reporter. She's previously worked as general assignment reporter with The Alligator, and you can also find her work in Rowdy Magazine or The Florida Finibus. When she's not staring at her laptop screen or a textbook, she's probably taking a long walk or at a yoga class.
