Florida Atlantic University moved to increase undergraduate tuition by 15 percent in the fall, the Board of Trustees said Tuesday.
Officials cited deep cuts in funding after they approved the tuition spike to the state-allowed maximum of 15 percent and proposed raising student fees by six percent, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The measure must still garner approval from the State University System’s Board of Governors this week.
As part of the proposal, FAU will also shutter campuses in Port St. Lucie and Fort Lauderdale, strip funding from the Dania Beach research center and lay off 60 employees, the Sentinel said.
"We did not ask for this reduction. This has been very, very painful," Trustee Sherry Plymale was quoted by the Sentinel as saying. "We're concerned with offering the best educational product, and there's no other way we can do that."
Trustee Jeffrey Feingold disagreed and said he’d prefer pay cuts to tuition increases. "This is a 15 percent tax on students at a time when the average student debt at this university is $22,000," he told the Sentinel.
Several other state universities are following suit though, and seeking 15 percent increases after the Legislature cut $25 million in funding, the newspaper said.
