Florida officials put out-of-state tuition hike on pause

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida higher-education officials on Thursday put on hold a request by university presidents to raise tuition for out-of-state students, hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis touted efforts to avoid tuition hikes over the past decade.

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The state university system’s Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s network of 12 universities, was slated to weigh approval of a plan that would allow schools to individually raise tuition by up to 15 percent for students who come from other states.

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But Eric Silagy, the board’s vice chairman, announced Thursday that the plan was being postponed, saying “additional work” is needed before potentially implementing the tuition increase.

“We are not going to be taking that up today. Although a lot of work has already been done on this item, upon some further examination, it was determined that there was going to be some additional work and time spent on this before we bring it up formally,” Silagy said.

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Silagy’s comments came shortly after DeSantis addressed tuition during a media event in Tampa Thursday morning.

“We are the lowest in America for tuition and fees in higher-education, and that’s really important,” DeSantis said, eliciting applause from an audience. “And I don’t think we have done tuition increases in Florida for about 10 years. So, that’s something that’s been very, very significant.”

The presidents of each state university and the chairs of the universities’ boards of trustees backed the idea of a tuition hike for out-of-state students.

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