Where FSU stand in Florida's metrics

 

Where FSU stand in Florida's metrics

Eleven of the state's 12 public universities continue to struggle with increasing the numbers of low-income students they admit, a trend that the Board of Governors says it wants to see reversed.

The performance-based funding metric, which recognizes a commitment to access for undergraduate students eligible for a Pell Grant, is one of the key metrics in the State University System (SUS).

New College of Florida was the only university to improve in the metric, according to data presented to the board last week at the University of Central Florida.

“While none of the declines are significant, it’s important to ensure that the commitment to access is preserved going forward and that the declines do not become a long-term trend,” Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Christy England told board members. “This is a particular concern at FSU and UF.”

The board's 2025 system strategic plan goal calls for all universities to be above an access rate of 30%. While 10 of the universities are still above the goal, including Florida A&M University, with a leading rate of 59.3%, Florida State University and the University of Florida continue to be the only universities below the goal with 26.3% and 24.7% respectively.

Neither FSU or UF has met the goal in the past five years.

FSU President Richard McCullough told board members FSU is a "really hard place to get into now" and explained what is being done to achieve the access expectations.

"We're setting aside money to target Pell Grant students with extra resources and redoubling our efforts to recruit them aggressively," McCullough told the Board of Governors. "It may take us a year or so to catch up, but we're on it."

In the past, FSU has highlighted how underrepresented minorities, including first-generation college students, have played a part in its four-year graduation rate. After having the highest percentage in 2021, FSU's rate was surpassed by UF in the year-to-year-based metric, with UF currently at a leading four-year graduation rate of 74.7%.

Although FSU did not improve in the category, it continues to have one of the highest rates in the system with 72.7%.

FSU’s score in the metrics increased from 88 points in 2021 to 90 points in 2022, making it the first time that the university has scored in the 90 range. FSU also placed fourth among all state universities, which is two rankings up from its sixth position in 2021.

The universities that scored in the top three this year were the University of Florida with 93 points, the University of South Florida with 92 points and Florida International University with 91 points.

Universities receive millions

The Board of Governors approved a performance-based funding allocation amount of $560 million during the meeting, which will be distributed to the 12 state universities for the 2022-23 fiscal school year. The money approved by the board consists of $265 from state investments and $295 million from university investments.

Here are the metric scores, university investments and state allocations for all 12 universities:

• Florida A&M University: 72, $14 million, $12.5 million
• Florida Atlantic University: 80, $22.5 million, $20.2 million 
• Florida Gulf Coast University: 71, $12.7 million, $11.4 million 
• Florida International University: 91, $35.1 million, $32.8 million 
• Florida Polytechnic University: 66, $4.7 million, $2.1 million 
• Florida State University: 90, $46.4 million, $41.7 million
• New College of Florida: 66, $4 million, $1.8 million 
• University of Central Florida: 88, $36 million, $32.3 million 
• University of Florida: 93, $57 million, $52.5 million 
• University of North Florida: 78, $14.2 million, $12.8 million 
• University of South Florida: 92, $37.9 million, $35.4 million
• University of West Florida: 81, $10 million, $8.9 million

The money can be used for universities to invest in their student and faculty success initiatives, such as recruitment and hiring, retention, professional development, academic counseling and financial aid.