If you’re a full-time UF student, chances are you’ll be paying for a class you’re not taking next semester. It may sound counterintuitive, but a new proposal in front of the State University System’s Board of Governors, the governing authority overseeing public higher education in Florida, would allow the UF administration to charge full-time students a flat fee for tuition regardless of the number of credit hours they take. So, for example, if you’re like the many UF students who take 12 credit hours each semester, you’ll be charged for 15 credit hours. On the flipside, if you take 15 or 18 credit hours a semester, you won’t notice a change in your tuition bill and could even save money.
Past and present administration officials have viewed block tuition as a means to an end: The university needs money. One way to pay the bills is by providing an incentive for students to take more credit hours and graduate early while receiving a nice financial surplus from students who continue to take 12 credit hours and who are essentially fined.
I don’t envy the job university administrators across Florida are facing. In a depressed economic environment that has seen waning financial support for higher education, university officials have had to grapple with shrinking budgets. Hard choices have been made, and more will have to be made.
Yet block tuition is the wrong choice.
First of all, it is instinctively unfair to pay for a class you’re not taking. Furthermore, there are potential unintended consequences of the university imposing a de facto fine on students who already struggle to excel in classes while balancing both part-time and full-time jobs that are necessary to pay for the rising costs of higher education and extracurricular, civic and spiritual activities, which are even more necessary today as graduate schools tighten admission standards. As anyone who’s had to fight ISIS for a seat in a much-needed class can attest, our classes are large enough. Imagine, though, how much harder it will be to get that seat as more students collectively add another class to their schedule each semester. Imagine, just for a moment, how less fulfilling our campus life will become as more students are pushed to take more classes, using time and effort otherwise used to start new campus organizations that enrich the UF and Gainesville community.
I implore my fellow students to make our voices heard, and I’m grateful the UF Student Senate has signaled it will vote on a resolution condemning block tuition at its next meeting this Tuesday. A few friends and I have decided to make sure our peers have another avenue to make their voices heard to the Board of Governors and have started a petition drive to be presented to Board members when they meet at UF on Nov. 3 and 4.
You can make your voice louder by joining together with other students who have already signed the petition, conveniently located on campus on Turlington Plaza. Additionally, we’ve started a Facebook page, (www.facebook.com/stopblocktuition), where students can learn more about the issue and voice their opposition to the proposal by signing an online petition.
As we all well know, being a member of The Gator Nation is so much more than just taking classes. As numerous UF promotional brochures affirm, The Gator Nation is a community that values campus and community involvement. Together, let’s make sure UF continues to honor this value.
Matthew Christ is a political science and advertising junior.
