Florida May Base State College Tuition on Majors

Controversial proposal aims to steer graduates toward jobs

It's enough to make philosophy majors ponder their existence.

In order to turn out graduates who have a better chance at getting jobs, Florida might start charging state tuition based on students' choice of academic major.

Republican Gov. Rick Scott's task force on higher education recently proposed that university tuition rates be frozen for three years for majors in certain high demand, high wage areas. The group did not specify which fields to target, or how much to charge for the different majors, the Orlando Sentinel wrote.

The idea appears to be controversial in the Florida higher education community. Faculty at the University of Florida have created an online petition with nearly 1,900 signatures to oppose the plan. Some professors say basing tuition on majors would hurt liberal arts programs already hit by state funding cuts. Others object to charging students more to take classes in subjects like art, history and philosophy, which cost less to provide than ones in science, technology, engineering and math, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The Board of Governors, which oversees the university system and lawmakers will consider the proposal in the coming months, the New York Times said.

Via the Orlando Sentinel and the New York Times

Is this plan to base tuition on majors a good idea?

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

I like the idea. Finally someone is doing some thinking.

[PNWest]

I'm not sure about this but I think it is good that they were thinking outside the box. I can see why it is in the state's best interest to produce graduates with useful skills but part of me thinks that we need to have at least some people educated in the 'softer' subjects. All in all I guess it is worth trying out.

[UnCommonBoston]

@PNWest There will always be people who can afford to go to college and have the luxury of studying something less practical.

[PoliticalSpice]

I find myself in agreement with you. Hmmm... I think it only fair to assist people in getting skills that will lead to employment. This is an effective way of doing so, but it respects the right of students to study outside these few areas. I also like the flexibility of the ifea. As the economy needs different skills they can switch which majors are least costly...

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

People say I'm unreasonable yet the end up agreeing with me. 1.6K vote ups can't be wrong. There is middle ground to be found in America, if people want to find it.

[Denizen_Kate]

@PNWest - I AM sure about this being a bad idea. The problem with coercing students into specific majors because they may be more practical and lead to better employment is feeding right into what is fast becomming neither a socialist nor a capitalist society, but a feudal one. If you lived in a feudal society, modernly speaking, and were part of the nobility in the form of corporate CEOs and other upper management positions, the last thing you would want is to allow the serfs to learn how to think for themselves. Liberal arts are so named because they lead one to see the world as a glorious whole and not just a means to an end, however practical.

[gregorytoye]

I dont know what to say about this theres good points and bad points im from florida i think a kore qualified state should do this first let see what mass dose

[DARSB]

This might make sense in a community college that specializes in specific job training programs, but university?

[Fishbone345]

My thoughts exactly. Great minds I guess? Heh.

[LGRepublican]

I agree it's perfect for a community college, but if some of those careers are things like medicine or engineering, you have to take it to the university level.

[RobertJHarsh]

I think I like this idea. People who major in fields that have zero job prospects should pay more than a guy going for business mgmt, accounting, or sciences. In fact, since America is in need of workers trained in sciences, those students should get a discount.

[Fishbone345]

I think you have something there with the discount idea.
I think higher education is too expensive as is, discounts would be a encouragement.

[CanisCanemEdit]

I have two adult children and their spouses and children all living with me on the farm. Of the four, three have degrees and one is within a few hours but chose to leave school to raise family.

We have some of the smartest conversations ever to hit the cow shed.

[UnCommonBoston]

Hmm, I guess this would discourage people from getting a degree in French Medieval Literature. I have met recent college grads with liberal arts degrees that cannot understand why they can't get a job. They feel betrayed and mislead, which they were.

The college I went to only offered "professional degrees" These were intense, narrow fields of study that taught the skills needed to work and nothing else. The only BA available was in technical writing, the rest were either BS or BFA. So, I never studied Shakespeare in college, but I do use the skills I was taught often.

This won't work for everyone. However, graduates from that university got jobs in their field at a time when there were not many jobs available.

If you are going to college to get ahead, picking a more practical degree is smart.

[DerivePI]

If someone is foolish enough to spend $120 grand on a liberal arts degree, then why shouldn't the college be allowed to fleece them?

[DerivePI]

Consider it their first lesson.

[UnCommonBoston]

People should be allowed to study anything they want. However, lower tuition for more practical majors would encourage people to re-think getting degrees in Literature.

[DerivePI]

@UnCommonBoston - the incentive for getting a pratical degree is the ability to market that education into a higher paying position after college. Anyone who hasn't done an economic analysis before spending that kind of money on anything needs to have their head checked. If the market is saturated with English majors who make $35k out of college, don't spend more than $80k for 4 years of college as an English major.

[jessejaymes]

@UnCommonBoston My solution to what you say (because I do agree college students should be encouraged to get degrees what will actually get them a job) is for Corporations to offer tuition rebates relevant to the level of need for those who do respond to those incentives. But I don't think the state or schools have any business in determining this.

[LGRepublican]

It could have the added bonus of having more students graduating and finding jobs so they can pay back those student loans instead of "occupying" city parks.....

[HPthinker]

I don't like the idea of some political crony telling you what your going to study by charging what they think you owe. Credit is a Credit

[Deb2me]

Hence, the dumbing down of America. Where does this lead? Just look at history for the answer while we still have those who study history.(Hint: totalitarian regimes target universities and the intelligentsia.)

[Fishbone345]

Considering what the Patriot Act, NDAA 12, and TSA an Homeland Defense have done the footsteps are logical huh? Tyranny here we come.

[jessejaymes]

While I find many degrees offered today to be absolutely absurd, this is nothing more than an end run against "liberalism". Boy we get closer and closer to fundamentalist Islam just with a different set of words huh?

[MRMacrum]

Don't have an opinion really. I do know that many businesses will often hire liberal arts degree candidates over graduates with business degrees. Liberal Arts usually includes courses that work on the communication skills of the graduates. Creative writing, Critical thinking, and mass communication courses. I'd say if nothing else, Florida is at least trying something new. I'll wait and see how it works for them.

[HughAkston]

I often say that we have educated ourselves to the point where we have become idiots. It's about time we stopped subsidizing nonsensical degree programs that lead to the unemployment line and debt. There was a time when a a college degree actually meant something significant. A degree in gender studies? That's complete nonsense.

[LGRepublican]

Amen! God forbid we graduate kids who can get jobs and pay back student loans instead of whining about all their debt.....

[kirbstomp1]

The reason I say no is because in reality every major is just as valuable to society as the other. I could understand doctoral and post-doctoral to have a different pricing and possibly even masters, but 4 year degrees should be equal at a state run institution.

[Newsdoctor]

My fear is that this sort of trend might turn our great universities into vocational schools and that we'll lose touch with the arts and the search for meaning -- the essence of what separates humans from all other species. In this overwhelmingly complex and increasingly transparent world, the esteem of many of our cultural, religious and government institutions has fallen by the wayside. If colleges and universities are transformed into expensive career-counseling centers and our young people are rewarded more for ant-like industriousness than for creativity and transformative ideas, the loss to humanity will be incalculable.

[Deb2me]

Exactly.

[culinary]

In today's economy, students need to get JOBS. That means getting a degree in something marketable.

[Thunderchicken]

When my kids were (are) looking at colleges, I told them I wouldn't assist with their expenses unless they were learning something that would allow them to make a living. I don't see why the state couldn't do something similar.

[Stratton]

Legally, any fee charged by a government entity - including public universities - is supposed to be set at a level which merely offsets the cost of providing the service to which it is attached. If they can prove that some majors are more costly than others, fine; if not, this is fundamentally bad governance.

[Stratton]

So, if you're rich and can afford to go to a private college, you can study what you want and pursue the career of your choice. If you're poor and can't afford it, then you study what the government wants you to and you pursue the career they pick for you. So much for social and economic mobility ina free society.

[debate]

It would be completely unethical to charge students any more than they are already being charged simply for making a personal choice about which field of study they will engage in, especially when the provision of such education actually costs the college less than other disciplines. Besides, a person will be more successful at what it is that they are interested in, not what economic rationalists choose for them, and in time the balance would get out of kilter and then they'd have to keep changing which careers they want to push as the economy keeps changing, leading to less certainty and less choice as to which subjects to study before going to college.

[PayThatCEO]

Why not try lowering the cost of tuition by simply doing away with "unnecessary" classes? If one is majoring in journalism, why is it necessary to take algebra? If one plans on becoming an engineer, why should that student be required to take a class in medieval studies?

I know we've always wanted "well-rounded" people, but it might be time to restructure curriculums and focus on what is important for where a student is heading.

[1adam2]

i do not believe that any school or federally funded organization, should be making personal choices for us. thought it sounds good, at first glance. but it kind of seems, dictatorial to me. give them the facts, and let them decide.

when ever i went to any of the many, collages or universities i have attended. i started out with only one rule - was to major in something you can make a lot of money at, and minor in something i really liked to do.

even if it eventually, turned out that i majored in somthing i really liked, and minored in somthing i could make a lot of money at. and even finally droped out, of a medical major. i guess my enfatuation of being, a gunney pig in the salk progam was finally over. because i so enjoyed doing what i liked, that i just went all out for it. and i have never regretted, that decision.

i was happy, doing what i really enjoyed with no regrets. and after i got my degree, spent the next twenty years with getting more post degrees, majoring in what i liked.

call me a failure or a relic if you want, but i loved every job i had, and loved to do the work. even after became a jr scientist, after being a technologist i was so deeply involved. because of all the technology involved in scientific research.