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Our View: Poly makes its case – The Ledger


Florida Poly makes a convincing case for its independence.

State Rep. Randy Fine has offered one of the most provocative policy prescriptions for saving Florida taxpayers money.

The Palm Bay Republican proposes abolishing Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland as an independent member of the State University System and making it part of the University of Florida.

Fine’s rationale: According to a report by the state Board of Governors, it costs $180,958 to produce a graduate at Florida Poly, compared to an average of $28,208 for all dozen schools in the public university system. “We have an obligation to taxpayers to generate degrees at the lowest possible cost,” Fine recently told Florida Politics.

We agree with his philosophy. Government, regardless of what it does, should operate as efficiently and as cost effectively for taxpayers as possible.

Still, this is one of the more remarkably bad ideas to come out of Tallahassee this legislative session. And we urge Polk County’s delegation, particularly Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, and Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, whose districts include Florida Poly, to lead the charge to defeat it.

If you’re just looking at numbers on a spreadsheet for Florida Poly, or tiny New College in Sarasota, which awaits a similar fate as a future satellite of Florida State University, Fine’s plan makes sense.

But this issue is more nuanced and Florida Poly’s counterargument has not gotten the attention it deserves. Consider, as we did, points Florida Poly spokeswoman Lydia Guzman made in an email to us after we asked about this allegedly exorbitant cost:

• The floated “cost per degree” only covers Florida Poly’s first class, and includes the school’s start-up costs, such as its capital infrastructure, that were settled long ago at schools like UF;

• Florida Poly was created as, and is, a niche operation, focusing exclusively on STEM-heavy programs, particularly engineering. Those specialized degrees cost three to six times to produce as popular degrees in liberal arts, social sciences, or business that are found in abundance at other schools;

• Using the school’s current budget and its “tuition collection” forecast, and dividing that by Florida Poly’s projection of graduates, the cost per degree plummets by 45%, compared to the number Fine uses;

• Florida Poly contends admin costs are not calculated consistently across the university system. For instance, an “administrative cost” at one university may be defined as “instruction” at another. And Florida Poly suffers in this regard because it has centralized all of its administration as one unit, which makes its expenses appear higher, and does not have subordinate “colleges” for each academic discipline wherein these costs are generally counted as instruction.

• Florida Poly opened in 2014, and methodically and deliberately hires faculty to meet growth of the student population. Currently, some faculty slots remain open, which creates an impression of bloat. The college argues that once these vacancies are filled, Florida Poly will have 1.8 staffers for each faculty member. At UF, the ratio is more than 3 to 1.

• UF handled Florida Poly’s administrative functions from 2012, when the Legislature created the school, through 2016. Poly’s leaders contend that if you project those previous costs under UF’s management to its current budget, localizing those functions at an independent Florida Poly saves taxpayers nearly $1.5 million a year.

• Finally, subsuming Florida Poly under UF to save an “unsubstantiated” estimate of $5 million, or 0.87% of the state’s higher education budget, could hurt a school that generates more than $290 million in economic activity for the state. We would add that aspect doesn’t include Poly’s branding that attracted SunTrax, the Florida Turnpike Authority’s proving ground for autonomous vehicle technology, and its future positioning as an anchor of a high-tech business district.

We cannot speak for New College, which has 724 students, whose enrollment is down 17% from the previous academic year, and which faces a significant challenge to meet its goal of 1,200 students by fall 2023. We’ll leave to its advocates in Sarasota to resist Fine’s encroachment.

But Florida Poly’s story is different.

It’s enrollment is more than 150% bigger than when it launched, and according to Guzman, its “completed” applications for the 2020 freshman class are up 80% over a year ago — which bucks the national trend of declining interest in pursuing higher education.

Ultimately, to us, Fine’s plan, which is gaining traction, is not so fine. It’s short-sighted, misguided and one-sided.

Florida Poly makes a convincing case for its independence. We hope a majority of lawmakers, aided by Polk’s delegation, will listen and agree.



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