Private universities fight back against potential funding cuts

University of Miami (University of Miami)

Nearly 22,000 students at 15 private universities are at risk of losing their state-funded grants, which several schools say would cause a ripple effect in the state’s economy and for employers in high-demand fields.

School officials, workforce leaders and others spoke during a press conference as they fight against potential cuts to the Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) grant.

The 15 schools that could lose funding include the University of Miami, University of Tampa and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The press conference comes as Florida lawmakers still must pass a budget — a looming, unfinished task from Session. Funding EASE will be another issue for lawmakers to negotiate during the budget conference. 

Under the House’s budget proviso, the criteria would change so that students at 15 of the 30 schools would not qualify for the $3,500 grants, said Bob Boyd, President of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida.

Boyd accused the House of using “arbitrary metrics” to eliminate EASE in half to save money as lawmakers consider sales and property tax cuts. He took particular aim at using tuition as a metric.

“That has nothing to do with academic excellence or performance or quality,” he said.

“Then the question is what does the budget cut accomplish? Are we going to save money? Is the goal for the state to create talent and save money? And the answer is no. EASE is such a good bargain for the state,” Boyd added. “There’s no way that the public universities alone have the capacity and the ability to attract all the students that want to seek those degrees and that our employers need.”

Arthur Keiser, Keiser University’s Chancellor, warned the cuts will take a direct financial hit on students and their families who have to pull from savings or take out more student loans to cover the difference.

Many of the students enrolled in the private schools are studying cybersecurity, nursing and other health care fields facing critical worker shortages.

“We currently don’t have a sufficient talent pipeline, and it’s difficult for our businesses to operate without a sufficient workforce,” said Scott Dimmick, Chief Human Resource Officer for Lakeland Regional Health who hires graduates from Keiser University and other schools. “Anything that impedes the opportunity for students to pursue college and complete college would affect our talent pipeline.”

David Armstrong, St. Thomas University’s President, argued instead of making cuts, state lawmakers should add more dollars to expand it to $8,500 as the amount has remained stagnant while Florida will also need 60,000 more nurses in the next five years.

“Everyone says that they have a sense of urgency to fill the workforce needs,” Armstrong said. “These moves will destroy all the great efforts that … the Legislature and … the Governor has been doing for the last several years to increase workforce development in Florida.”

Other schools that could be affected are AdventHealth University, Ave Maria University, Barry University, Bethune-Cookman University, Edward Waters College, Florida Memorial University, Lynn University, Saint Leo University, St. Thomas University, Warner University and Webber International University.