According to the preliminary 2006-2007 Legislative Budget issued to faculty members of Florida universities, a likely five percent tuition increase may be put into effect.
Florida A&M University’s enrollment dropped by 2,367 students this year, which is the lowest since 2001. For out-of-state students this increase will raise tuition above the $18,000 mark per-year. Retention rates will only decrease because of the amount of financial aid, especially for out-of-state students.
I would not find the tuition increase to be a problem, especially for out-of-state students, if financial aid awarded enough to cover a substantial amount of tuition costs for students.
The decision to raise tuition costs is still in its infant stages and has only been proposed. Hopefully the Legislation will decide not to vote in favor of this increase.
The increase will not be fair for FAMU students, seeing that blacks are the majority under the poverty level in America.
According to the U.S. 2004 Census report, there are 24.4 percent of blacks at or under the poverty levels.
All of these factors need to be taken into account when raising tuition costs in Florida. I understand there are economic and professional reasons why this increase is beneficial on one end, but on the other end it is nothing but catastrophic to those students who want to continue a college education.
Being that I am an out-of-state student myself, I know the increase will take a toll on my parents’ and my pockets. We’ll just have to wait and see which way the proposal for the five percent increase goes.
Only time will tell. Nyerere Davidson for the editorial board