UWF Approves Tuition Hike, Purchase Of Country Club

June 15, 2012

The University of West Florida has approved a tuition hike, and the university is moving forward with plans to purchase a nearby country club.

Thursday, UWF’s Board of Trustees approved a 15 percent increase per credit hour. If the tuition increase is approved at the state level, undergraduates will pay $28 more per credit hour while grad students will see a credit hour increase of $51.

The increase, according to the university, is to help offset a $12 million cut in state funding.

The UWF Board of Trustees also voted Thursday morning gave the go ahead to their property development company Business Enterprises, Inc., to purchase the Scenic Hills Country Club for $2.2 million.  Business Enterprises, Inc. will make the final purchase decision in the coming weeks.

The purchase will not use any taxpayer dollars. It’s expected to generate additional income for UWF  to stabilize the university’s future.

Comments

14 Responses to “UWF Approves Tuition Hike, Purchase Of Country Club”

  1. Frank on June 16th, 2012 11:36 pm

    What people do not realize is that Florida constitution requires a balanced budget…WISH OBAMA had to live within his means!!!!

  2. Joan on June 16th, 2012 10:51 am

    P s. To. The cry babies over gov Scott and how the money is all “separated”

    Smoke and mirrors governmental accounting used to protect school administrators from being held accountable.

    Btw I am not a tea party republican just someone who has worked hard all their life, paid their own way through college and raised two TAXPAYERS

    We are just people who are SICK of see our tax dollars wasted

  3. Joan on June 16th, 2012 10:46 am

    This is infuriating to me. I worked hard and saved my money So I could go back to grad school now I am looking at a 15% tuition hike . So uwf can buy a golf course and have a football team. In addition uwf staff is going around town talking about some hair brained idea about some kind of historical district around the 28 buildings they own downtown.

    Here is my solution
    National search for REAL uwf pres not a puppet (was there even a competition for her job

    Do not buy golf course and sell buildings downtown

    Fire 50% of uwf staff and make the remaing WORK

    Untenure lazy professors who do not update materially, i.e. teach by power point. Let there be competition and the results will be better teachers for less money

    Once above is done LOWER TUITION

    Can you tell I am mad

  4. Jane on June 16th, 2012 6:35 am

    UWF was a good college, with reasonable tuition. Now only people with money will send their kids there. So the college will not be serving our community, instead it will be run as a business. If you have to pay higher tuition then you may as well go to a more well-known college. I’m disappointed in UWF and the people who run it.

  5. bob hudson on June 15th, 2012 3:18 pm

    stupid is buying some thing you do not need and passing it on for others to pay for it By the way what does football teams, and golf courses and maritime parks have to do with education?I would cut their funding to if this is how they choose to spend it.Face it, they want a preppy school. They are taking what use to be a good college and driving it in the ground.

  6. Betty McAlpin on June 15th, 2012 1:59 pm

    Maybe you should direct your outrage towards Governor Scott and the legislature who have slashed higher education funding to the bone over the past two years. The only option given the schools in the Florida SUS is a 15% tution increase, every school in the system has done so in order to survive.

    BEI is an independent non-profit business entity affiliated with UWF. BEI bought Scenic Hills, not UWF. The money came from a $1.1 million bank loan and $1.1 million in funds generated by vendor contracts held by BEI for food services at UWF. Profits from all BEI holdings including Scenic Hills have an 80-20 spilt with 80 percent going to UWF and 20 per cent kept by BEI for future growth.

    Not one penny of tution money went into the Scenic Hills purchase. The reason UWF partnered with BEI was to develop cash flow to replace the massive budget cuts from Tallahassee. I find it hysterical and very hypocritical that those who are most critical of UWF are Tea Party Republicans who decry tax supported institutions. UWF, instead of crying over the lost revenue, has entered into the capatalist system in order to make their own money.

  7. Rob on June 15th, 2012 1:00 pm

    Seems very strange…

    its like no one even considered that maybe instead of raising tuition that they should not buy the golf course

    it is very odd to see both of these in the same article, “state funding is cut 12 million to UWF, so they are having to hike tuition, but the purchase of a golf course is approved”

  8. JW on June 15th, 2012 11:08 am

    How about not buy the SH Country Club and lower tuition rates or keep them the same! I am assuming they different “colors” of money, out of different pots?

  9. pj on June 15th, 2012 11:07 am

    Let me get this straight, bottom line, UWF is increasing tuition because money is tight, but buying a golf course. Why? Seems insane to me!

  10. Audrey on June 15th, 2012 10:31 am

    Students that qualify for the top bright futures used to get a full ride scholarship. With the increase in tutition, the “full” bright futures is not even paying 50% of tuition now. How sad.

  11. bob hudson on June 15th, 2012 10:23 am

    Seems the board of UWF would like to run things the same way Mr. Obama does. Buy what you do not need or can afford and let some one else pay for it. What a joke!Best way to run off students is to charge to much. If that is their goal. Then they are going to be successful at that.

  12. vannahsa on June 15th, 2012 8:12 am

    I am SO SO glad that I was able to graduate in the fall semester. Tuition had almost doubled since I started in 2007 and apparently had no plans on slowing down. UWF is a good school, but the new president wants to make it urban. She wants to get rid of the boardwalks, the trees, and most of the natural draw of the school. If you have noticed, the majority of the trees have been clear cut from the school. It now looks like a very urban school and I don’t like it. What I enjoyed most about UWF is the very natural look and feel and all the wildlife. I don’t agree with what she is doing and plans to do and I think that this tuition hike is ridiculous and not justified.

  13. Matt on June 15th, 2012 5:42 am

    We are paying 15% more because we can’t afford to stay at the prices we are at.?!?… but we got enough cash to drop on a 2.2 MILLION dollar “Country Club”… They are making it so hard to afford to go to school … with no outside help a student can expect to pay around 3k for a semester at UWF…That is just not a option for most… and the standards for financial aid are so high I was denied help although I honest to God needed it!…

  14. Scenic Golfer on June 15th, 2012 5:18 am

    Hopefully UWF won’t increase the green fees as consistently as they do tuition.