Tuition at the University of South Florida isn't going to increase in the coming school year, thanks to a veto from Gov. Scott. However, some students will end up paying a little bit more, as the Board of Trustees voted Thursday to raise fees by 10 percent for nonresident undergraduate students.
Fees for out-of-state graduate students and those seeking a doctorate in pharmacy will rise by 5 percent, and out-of-state students pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy will see fees rise by 3 percent.
Officials tell the Tampa Bay Times that the move is necessary for the university to compete with the state's top public research universities.
University officials say government funding has been significantly lower for USF than for the University of Florida and Florida State University.
At the board's meeting at USF St. Petersburg Thursday, USF provost Ralph Wilcox presented a graph showing that degree attainment — including high-valued degrees in science, technology, engineering and math — had started to level off in the past two years. "If ever there was any fat in the system, we are not only down to the muscle, we're down to the bone now," Wilcox said.
Last year, nonresident undergraduates on the Tampa campus paid $16,257 in tuition and fees. Next school year, those students will pay $17,304. That's still among the lowest total costs to out-of-state students for Florida's public universities.
In comparison, nonresident undergraduates at the University of Florida paid $28,240 in tuition and fees for the 2012-13 school year.
Also at Thursday's meeting, the board members agreed to end 17 degree programs they said were either redundant or unpopular.
