DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, Fla.

BYLINE: By Alejandra Cancino, Independent Florida Alligator; SOURCE: U. Florida

LENGTH: 691 words

November 6, 2006 Monday

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis and Republican candidate Charlie Crist both support the Bright Futures Scholarship program, which was designed to keep smart students in Florida.

But Bright Futures has become a problem for universities, such as University of Florida, that want to increase tuition.

Davis said he supports changing Bright Futures, and Crist said he recognizes the strain the program has as the state’s population grows, but neither proposed a specific change.

UF President Bernie Machen has said that UF needs a tuition increase to hire more faculty and to achieve his goal of getting UF ranked among the top 10 public universities.

But under Florida law, Bright Futures pays for 75 or 100 percent of tuition and fees. That means if tuition increases, Bright Futures must cover that increase — a move that would require the state to spend more money.

Since the program was created in 1997, Florida has spent about $1.3 billion on Bright Futures, helping more than 700,000 students. In the 2004-05 academic year, the state spent about $269 million on it.

Karen Fooks, director of Student Financial Affairs, said the worry is if Bright Futures can continue to support tuition hikes without change.

But changes in this program will affect thousands of UF students. Fooks said that about 95 percent of incoming freshmen benefit from Bright Futures.

Davis said if tuition increased, the state would have to meet some of it with tax revenue, but students would also need to contribute.

He also said any increase must be balanced with an increase in need-based financial aid.

“It’s a combination of tax dollars, tuition and financial aid that fund the university, and that should be the proper mix,” he said.

Crist did not specify if he would support changes to Bright Futures, but he wrote in an e-mail that he recognizes that Florida’s growing population means more students are using the scholarship.

To deal with this strain, Crist wrote that Florida needs to “create alternative ways for students to achieve higher education.”

For example, Crist, the state’s attorney general, would support the use of Bright Futures at community colleges that offer four-year degrees.

“This would allow more students access to higher education,” he wrote.

Crist did not say if he would support Machen’s goal to raise tuition.

But he wrote in an e-mail that he “believes that Florida’s universities should have the freedom and flexibility necessary to continue their ascension as world-class institutions while also being efficient and accountable to the taxpayers.”

David R. Colburn, a UF history professor with expertise in Florida politics, said Bright Futures could be modified in three ways:

Legislators could cap the amount of money students receive. They could increase the standards. They could impose a fee on students who want to attend Florida’s best universities. Bright Futures would not cover that fee. Colburn speculated that Crist, a Florida State University alumnus, would be slower to embrace changes to Bright Futures because he is a product of public education.

“I think Davis, before Crist, will make changes in Bright Futures because he paid a lot of money to go to school and probably thinks we are not paying enough for education in Florida,” he said.

Davis got his law degree from UF, but his education before then had been from private institutions.

If the Florida Legislature were to grant UF’s Board of Trustees, the school’s highest governing body, control over undergraduate tuition, about 25,600 Bright Futures recipients would be affected.

During the 2005-06 academic year, 13,206 UF students received the Florida Academic Scholars Award, which covers 100 percent of tuition and fees. About 12,500 UF students received one of the Bright Futures program’s other two awards, which covers 75 percent of their tuition and fees.

Fooks said though maintaining the status quo could make tuition too expensive for the state to fund or decrease the quality of education, changes to the program could be unpopular with voters.

“Parents and students believe it is an entitlement,” she said.

(C) 2006 Independent Florida Alligator via U-WIRE