On its second day of meetings at Lake Wauburg, the UF Board of Trustees discussed cutting more costs, including merging administrative and human resource services among colleges.
General obligation bonds were mentioned as a potential way to make up the $15-million infrastructure deficit previously filled with Public Education Capital Outlay money.
“It’s likely that PECO funds will not be replaced in the near future,” UF Trustee David Brown said. “We can’t miss this opportunity from a financial standpoint.”
The university has reduced its operating expenditures by $100 million over the past five years, said UF Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Matt Fajack, but costs are rising. He said UF has fought this by not giving raises, deferring maintenance on campus and combining departments.
Fajack suggested transitioning to shared service centers, a place where multiple colleges at UF could share resources such as human resource services, financial planning and tech assistance.
A large college at UF could have one service center, but smaller colleges could share one, he said.
“It is going to cause some angst on campus,” Fajack said. “Although I think three years, four years down the road, faculty will be happy.”
He said UF would try to avoid losing key employees and disrupting services.
Provost Joe Glover presented an update on STEM education, mentioning two bills that could change curriculum for UF students.
House Bill 7135 would reduce the required general education coursework from 36 credit hours to 30 that must be completed in communication, mathematics, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. The bill is an attempt to standardize education across Florida’s public universities, Glover said.
House Bill 7129 would require nine to 12 credits that must be taken on-campus at UF.
Glover said he wants each freshman class to have a signature UF experience. What Is the Good Life?, an interdisciplinary class that examines what it means to lead a good life from a variety of perspectives, is being treated as the prototype.
Machen said UF is still committed to serving Florida by admitting mostly in-state students.
The board examined results from last year’s Student Experience in the Research University survey.
Although UF students study less than their peers at other schools, according to the survey’s results, 74 percent of UF students feel like they belong on UF’s campus and 77 percent of UF students would choose to enroll again.
To that, Trustee Charles Edwards said, “Somebody’s doing something right.”
Contact Julia Glum at jglum@alligator.org. Contact Erin Jester at ejester@alligator.org.
