In Monday's edition of the Alligator, UF spokesman Steven Orlando was reported as saying, "Although budget cuts forced UF to reduce undergraduate enrollment, graduate schools are not affected."
The article goes on to say that grants and research funding do not support UF's graduate schools. While graduate school acceptance and enrollment may not be threatened by past and future budget cuts, the ability of the departments to entice top candidates to the university is greatly limited without the availability of decently-paid stipends, flexible assistantships, etc.
Moreover, I would also consider the merging of departments and the suspension or elimination of entire graduate programs (i.e. foreign languages or philosophy) as major effects on the graduate schools.
What is the likelihood of attracting the best potential candidates to an academic institution, a former bastion of intellectualism, when productivity is measured only by financial gains?
