{"id":389891,"date":"2026-09-04T02:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389891\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T02:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:14:14","slug":"florida-university-leaders-voice-concerns-on-out-of-state-enrollment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389891\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida university leaders voice concerns on out-of-state enrollment"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the state’s higher education board<\/a> looks to prevent too many out-of-state students from enrolling into Florida’s public universities<\/a>,\u00a0many of the university presidents and board chairs\u00a0are on the same page against the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Florida Board of Governors discussed\u00a0undergraduate enrollment\u00a0during a Sept. 3 meeting on Florida Gulf Coast University’s campus as they consider regulation amendments<\/a>\u00a0that would allow it to withhold the\u00a0approval of out-of-state fee increases for nonresidential undergraduate students.\u00a0The\u00a0effort comes as a directive from the Florida Legislature to align with HB 5601-E<\/a>, which Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> approved in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking up against the proposed amendment, Florida State University<\/a>\u00a0Board of Trustees Chair Peter Collins said it’s “awkward” and “ham-fisted.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s a solution to a problem that I’m not sure we want to solve,” Collins told the governing board Thursday. “I don’t want one or two percent of out-of-state or out-of-the-country students. What are we learning if we’re just going to school with our neighbors?” \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FSU's<\/p>\n

FSU’s Board of Trustees chair Peter Collins speaks during a board meeting at the Turnbull Conference Center on campus on August 29, 2025.<\/p>\n

SUS universities\u00a0annually update their\u00a0accountability plan with the percentage of\u00a0nonresident undergraduate degree-seeking students enrolled during the prior year.\u00a0But if\u00a0the board determines a university has enrolled a greater percentage of\u00a0students than\u00a0what was projected, it\u00a0will require corrective action \u2212 including a\u00a0revised\u00a0accountability plan, an enrollment reduction plan\u00a0or a reduced undergraduate out-of-state fee.<\/p>\n

“We will do what we are told to do, but I just don’t think this is the right approach to where we are in climbing in excellence,” FSU\u00a0President Richard McCullough<\/a> told the board. “The changes in the percentage of out-of-state students is rising and is unpredictable, so enrollment is completely the wrong parameter, in my opinion.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida State University President Richard McCullough attends the Board of Governors meeting on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

FSU had 12% of its student come from outside of Florida in the past two years, and the projected percentage for the next few years\u00a0is 13%, according to the university’s 2026 accountability plan<\/a>. At Florida A&M University<\/a>,\u00a022% were out-of-state students<\/a> in the past two years while the projected percentage for the next few years is 20%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite FSU and other universities recently increasing out-of-state tuition costs by 15%<\/a> for this fall as a directive from the Board of Governors, Florida\u00a0still has\u00a0one of the\u00a0lowest\u00a0out-of-state tuition costs in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Collins said legislators\u00a0think universities want to admit more out-of-state students because they’ll get more money from them\u00a0when considering how their tuition costs are higher compared to the costs for in-state students, but he\u00a0said “that’s just not true.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If you want to pull a lever, pull that lever \u2013 but it’s not because we’re hungry for money,” Collins said. “If you want to slow (enrollment) down, make it more expensive.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida Atlantic University President\u00a0Adam\u00a0Hasner\u00a0said the wrong category in the process of admitting students is being considered\u00a0by state legislators since\u00a0enrollment “is not within the power of the universities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We don’t control enrollment \u2013 we control admissions,” Hasner, a former House member said\u00a0during the board meeting. “Once we’ve admitted students, we can’t control which students are going to accept that offer of admission. That’s what ultimately puts some of the universities one or two percent higher in our\u00a0out-of-state percentage.”<\/p>\n

\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida Atlantic University President Adam Hasner, right, speaks during a press event where Governor Ron DeSantis, left, proposed a new college and university accreditation process for the state’s university system at FAU in Boca Raton, Fla., on June 26, 2025.<\/p>\n

During discussions, Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine admittedly referred to the proposed amendment as a “sledgehammer” that would impact what the university’s future enrollment goals are when considering projected numbers for out-of-state and in-state students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They don’t have total control over enrollment,” Levine told the board, referring to the universities. “But if we don’t have the policy leverage to make decisions for each of our institutions… that’s a disservice.”<\/p>\n

\"Board<\/p>\n

Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine speaks to the members of the Board of Governors during a meeting in the student union at Florida State University on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

With FAMU\u00a0being a smaller sized institution compared to\u00a0flagship universities like FSU and the University of Florida\u00a0\u2013 where it has an enrollment count of about 8,000 students this fall compared to over 45,000 students at FSU and over 50,000 at UF \u2013 FAMU President Marva Johnson<\/a> reminded the board that a solution to the out-of-state enrollment issue that may work for one university may not work for another.<\/p>\n

“I just want to make sure we’re looking at solutions that fit each school instead of trying to do a one-size-fits-all solution,” Johnson\u00a0told the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Levine said the governing board will\u00a0work with university board\u00a0chairs on the\u00a0language that will be used in the amended\u00a0policy, and that he hopes they will be able to “land on an agreed position” about the proposed amendment.\u00a0The Board of Governors will meet on\u00a0Sept. 30 on UF’s campus\u00a0to take up the item.<\/p>\n

Tarah Jean can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com<\/a>. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida university leaders voice concerns on out-of-state enrollment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the state’s higher education board looks to prevent too many out-of-state students from enrolling into Florida’s public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[27510,27236,27695,28,2324,3342,155983,37054,3603,155984,46031,155982,9057,232,234,233,155985],"class_list":["post-389891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-alan-levine","tag-board-of-governors","tag-collins","tag-florida","tag-florida-am-university","tag-florida-atlantic-university","tag-florida-gulf-coast-universitys","tag-floridas","tag-fsu","tag-its-awkward","tag-its","tag-levine","tag-marva-johnson","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-tarah-jean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}