Public universities, as the name suggests, are meant to serve the public.
The 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Acts established land-grant universities to provide affordable higher education to ordinary Americans, particularly farmers and working-class families.
These institutions opened opportunities to those previously excluded from higher education, such as farmers and the working class. Over 160 years later, that mission still matters.
The University of Florida loves to show off its affordability. In 2023, UF celebrated being named a “best value” university and emphasized its accessibility for Florida students. But that affordability has started to feel more and more like a thing of the past.
For many students, attending UF is becoming harder to justify financially.
While UF often touts its affordable tuition, that’s just one part of the equation in a student’s consideration.
Florida’s in-state tuition remains relatively low compared to many states, but the actual cost of attending college has increased through other fees, such as housing and living expenses. UF’s estimated in-state cost of attendance this past academic year was more than $24,000. By next year, that number is expected to rise to nearly $26,000.
Meanwhile, out-of-state students still feel the worst of the rising costs. UF recently proposed increasing fees for non-Florida residents by 15%, a proposal met with fierce online opposition.
At the same time, students are watching dorm prices climb while many residence halls disappear altogether.
UF continues to enroll massive freshman classes while demolishing dorms faster than it replaces them. Students are pushed off campus, left to compete in Gainesville’s increasingly expensive housing market.
And as students fight these financial battles, university leadership appears increasingly disconnected from the financial realities of its students.
UF’s next president will make nearly $3 million annually when salary, bonuses and benefits are combined. Even as students are told budgets are tight and costs must rise, university executives continue to receive growing, corporate-like salaries.
Supporters of rising costs often argue college remains “worth it.” While they’re correct, acknowledging the value of higher education should not mean accepting endless price increases as inevitable.
Student loan debt in America now exceeds $1.6 trillion. Many students delay graduation to work excessive hours so they can pay off their debt. Some may abandon college entirely because they simply can’t afford it.
Public universities shouldn’t become institutions where affordability exists only for the wealthy, scholarship recipients or the lucky few with prepaid tuition plans. This ignores their original purpose to aid the public in their educational pursuits. They exist because an educated population benefits society as a whole.
By making education and a college degree available to those who have been historically excluded from them, public universities strengthen the country’s democracy and provide a means for economic mobility.
UF is one of the nation’s flagship public universities. It should lead both the state and country not only in rankings and research output, but in accessibility.
A public university cannot fulfill its mission – to provide affordable education to anyone who seeks it – if that public is slowly being priced out of it.
Contact Timothy Dillehay at tdillehay@alligator.org. Follow him on X @timothydilleh.
Timothy Dillehay is a political science and history sophomore and a Spring 2026 Opinions Columnist for The Alligator. He writes on issues related to university administration and student government. In his free time, Timothy enjoys journaling, reading comics and classics, and reviewing films on his Letterboxd.
