UF's Board of Trustees met Thursday and Friday to make several changes for next year.
Among the topics were faculty raises, a common freshman course and enrollment.
"Nobody else in this economy is thinking of raises, and if they are, they're very small," said Mary Ann Ferguson, Faculty Senate chairwoman.
UF President Bernie Machen's announcement to raise faculty and staff's pay is a sign of great leadership, Ferguson said.
The raises will increase faculty salaries up to 4 percent and staff salaries up to 3 percent based on performance.
Performance evaluations will be determined by department chairs, UF spokesman Steve Orlando said.
Graduate assistants' pay will increase 3 percent, regardless of performance, and minimum wages for some UF jobs will increase from $9.02 per hour to $9.75 per hour.
The raises were made possible by the federal stimulus package, Orlando said. However, increased tuition will help cover the slack after stimulus money runs out.
Provost Joe Glover also outlined a plan to encourage a common, in-class experience for incoming freshmen through a new course. Honors students had the chance to take the humanities course, tentatively titled "The Good Life," in the spring semester.
In the board meeting's agenda, the course was described as reading and writing intensive.
Glover said the course is important because students identify with UF's athletics and out-of-classroom activities, and he is concerned that they aren't connecting with the university in the classroom.
The course, which will have three sections under the tag IDH3931, is also intended to be interdisciplinary, which means course objectives will apply to all majors
The university expects 600 freshmen to take the course in the fall. If it is successful, then Glover said the university plans to "scale it up to a huge proportion of the freshman class."
The course, however, will not be required.
Glover also wants to stabilize declining enrollment levels.
Glover's plan is to raise graduate enrollment between half a percent and 1 percent each year.
"We are probably at, or near, capacity at the university," he said. "If our four-year graduation rate went up, then we could increase our freshman and transfer classes."
Student Body President Ashton Charles said she thinks the board needs to respect the educational paths of all students, even those who take longer than four years.
"Some degrees do take longer to achieve," she said.
Additionally, Machen wants undergraduate recruitment to focus more on out-of-state prospects. While the university enrolls many international students at the graduate level, 93 percent of undergraduates are from Florida.
Already, the university has begun sending advisers to interested students in the Washington, D.C. and New York areas, Glover said.
"[Alumni] have children who want to come back to the University of Florida," Glover said.
