Though state higher education leaders have discussed laying off faculty members as a possible consequence of budget woes, UF hopes to avoid letting any go.
On Wednesday, Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the Board of Governors, said statewide budget cuts could result in some faculty members from Florida universities losing their jobs.
But UF President Bernie Machen is aiming to avoid losing any faculty, said UF spokesman Steve Orlando.
On the contrary, UF will use much of the revenue from upcoming tuition increases to hire more faculty and advisers.
Because of the Tuition Differential Program approved in 2007, UF, Florida State University and the University of South Florida can incrementally raise tuition up to 40 percent over four years starting in the fall.
Each year's tuition increase cannot exceed 15 percent.
The Board of Governors, the State University System's highest governing body, approved a seperate statewide 8 percent increase on Thursday and earmarked 70 percent of that revenue for new hires of faculty and advisers. That increase is also set to start in fall, though UF's increase is still capped at 15 percent.
Orlando said it is too early to determine how many faculty members and advisers UF would hire with money from the upcoming hike, which colleges would receive them and whether they would be full-time or part-time employees.
However, it's probable that the new hires would go to colleges with a critical need for more help, he added.
"It could be as late as March before we hear what measures they will be taking," Orlando said.
Still, hiring new professors does not spell the end of UF's hiring freeze, which was announced in July.
