Cortez Whatley Wins Fight To Hike UCF Tuition Amid Student Backlash
Academics, Beyond UCF, Business, Economy, News, Tuition, UCF Administration, UCF SGA, Videos — By Staff on June 21, 2012 at 11:26 am TweetUPDATE 4:20 pm: Whatley succeeded in his fight to hike UCF’s tuition by 15 percent. The board ended up changing its mind and approving UCF’s hike after initially denying it.
UPDATE: UCF’s 15 percent tuition hike failed the full BOG vote this afternoon, despite aggressive efforts by Whatley to support the maximum amount. Negotiations for a lower hike are now ongoing. Live video on our homepage.
There’s a major fight unfolding right now over whether tuition will be hiked again — and the sides people are taking may come as a surprise.
UCF Student Body President Cortez Whatley is among those leading the fight to hike college tuition, while Gov. Rick Scott is leading the fight against it. Scott even came to UCF to speak out against the hikes on Wednesday.
KnightNews.com hired a crew in Tallahassee to catch up with Scott about why he thinks tuition does not need to be hiked. See what he said below:
Whatley, who serves as the student representative on the state panel that oversees state universities known as the Florida Board of Governors, fought against board members trying to prevent tuition hikes at a committee meeting this morning.
“I do feel this is tough on the families, but we have to be pro education and look at the long term,” Whatley said during a four minute speech he gave supporting a motion to recommend approving all the requested tuition hikes. That motion soon after passed by a vote of 7-2.
Whatley’s fight in support of the tuition hikes, which he believes are needed, came as two other board members spoke out strongly against the tuition hikes. Whatley suggested universities can’t operate like a business because “businesses fail, that’s what happens in business.” Whatley went on to say no one wants the institutions to fail.
Successful businessman and board member Morteza “Mori” Hosseini pointed out that, if approved, Florida tuition will have been hiked 74 percent over the past few years — a number he said was much too high during the recession where Florida families are losing jobs.
Another businessman and board member, Norman D. Tripp, agreed.
“I think with all the reports showing the economy is not strengthening, it’s going down, that to increase the cost of an education at this point makes no sense,” Tripp said, adding, he was “just flustered” by the arguments being made to hike tuition.
UCF students following the fight to hike tuition and fees, which would pay for things including a new robotic library, are sounding off on KnightNews.com’s Facebook page.
Bryan Maune posted: “When I am low on money, I cut back spending on what I WANT so that I can focus on what I NEED. We the students don’t NEED a library renovation right now, we don’t NEED a robot to get our books, and we don’t NEED extravagant parties and events. What we do NEED is a good education. So stop charging us more while you spend our money on things we don’t need UCF. We NEED a good education and that is it.
Lavish party paid for by students
An example of extravagant parties and events Maune may have been referring to include a controversial nearly $10,000 red carpet style party UCF held to honor SGA members like Whatley — paid for by the student dime.
Parents of new students KnightNews.com talked to also said they are against the tuition hikes. See video we shot of parents below.
The committee voted 7-2 to recommend the full board approve the tuition hikes during the 1:30 p.m. public meeting held in UCF’s Live Oak Center, near the Marketplace, this afternoon. KnightNews.com will update you on what the full board decides, and you can watch the meeting live on the KnightNews.com homepage.
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6 Comments
I applaud Cortez for his hard stance on this issue. On its face it appears to be counter intuitive for a student elected president to vote for this. But it was the legislature that screwed students by cutting UCF by 53 million. We need to fund higher ed, and UCF needs to continue to be a top notch school and losing that much money will not allow that. This 15% increase was necessary to fund that and anyone I’ve met who has looked at the balance sheets agrees. Cortez is taking a hard principled stance on this issue, and I applaud him for it.
I thought we had a president, not a dictator. If the students don’t want to raise tuition, then he has to right to pass those charges onto me.
Thank you Chaz. You are right on the money (pun intended). Can you believe the 2nd largest university in the nation (UCF) does not have a Statistics department? How does a research university not have a Statistics department? As you pointed out, more cuts will happen if this tuition hike does not get approved.
lmao this is why you don’t vote for people like this. He stumbled and sounded lie he did no research into this issue. At least UF’s president had the guts for fight for the students and not be the president’s lapdog. You compromise I have no problem with a 9 % increase, but 15% is stupid. This completely falls on Hitt’s idiotic spending. If he didn’t spend so much we wouldn’t be in this state.
UCF is making it impossible for me to return and continue my education in the fall. I can’t afford to keep taking out loans, and now my scholarships won’t even cover my cost of tuition, let alone housing/books/fees. I agree with Maune. We’re in a recession, we should focus on what we need: a good education!
The problem is that people, including this reporter, dont take the time to learn about University budgeting. The funding that you discuss as being “wasted” is NOT money from the state. These are known as E&G funds. The funds that you are discussing, including the Library rennovation, are from different budgets, either auxiliary or other. It is the E&G budget that is going to be affected without the hike and the fallout would be tremendous. If you were upset at losing programs like MIS or having large class sizes, just wait to see what happens if this is not approved. I am sure Knightnews and others will complain then that classes are too big and wonder why majors are no longer being offered.