A five-year plan relying on hundreds of millions in state funding at New College of Florida, which already spends more per student than any other public university in Florida, drew concern from at least one member of the state Board of Governors during its Wednesday meeting.
Board member Eric Silagy, former CEO of Florida Power & Light, questioned the financial future of New College, saying that, according to his calculations, in 2023-2024 the college spent more than $91,000 to educate each student, which is $80,000 more than the system average of $10,000.
New College President Richard Corcoran contested that number, saying the school spends about $68,000 to educate each student. Silagy said he found his number by dividing 2023-2024 state appropriations by enrollment; Corcoran did not say how he reached his number but added that he was open to discussion on the point.
In-state students at New College pay less than $7,000 per year to attend, leaving the state to make up a larger cost share compared to other state institutions.
During the meeting of the board that oversees Florida’s State University System, Corcoran presented the college’s business plan, a requirement to qualify for funding from the Legislature. The board released $15 million, $10 million of it for temporary student housing and $2 million for scholarships. The remainder is for campus security, support technology, and library resources.
The business plan Corcoran presented compares New College to similarly sized private colleges across the nation and spells out goals for housing, student success, “civil discourse,” development of a core liberal arts curriculum, and the athletics program.
The plan for the college will require $200 million over the next five years, which Silagy said would compare to the University of South Florida, with a 2023-2024 budget of $2.5 billion, asking for $13 billion over the same period.
“I want us to be really thoughtful about, if we approve this strategic plan, that we’re understanding that we’re taking a path that’s going to end up locking in what is currently a cost structure that is exponentially more expensive than every single other university we have in our system,” Silagy said.
The discussion recalled longstanding concern that New College may not be sustainable and ought to consolidate with another institution. The Legislature has previously decided against that, and Silagy did not advocate for it on Wednesday.
“I think that the scrutiny that has been on New College is long overdue and deserved,” Corcoran conceded.
“I mean, before I got there and the governor made changes, I don’t recall any question, for the most part, being asked of New College by any governor when they were massively failing, massively losing money, and massively creating the most toxic [atmosphere] arguably in the nation, but the questions are good and they are deserved.”
“Economies of scale matter, ” Silagy said, but he pointed to Florida Polytechnic, with about double the enrollment (1,496 in 2023) of New College (706 in 2023) which educates its engineering students at about half the price of New College, by his calculation.
The business plan includes a goal to have 36% of students participating in athletics by 2028 on 24 teams, which means massive investments into athletic complexes, including a three-phase plan to build a “multi-purpose facility supporting enrollment growth.”
The plan includes acquisition of property from Sarasota Bradenton Airport, an idea that has received significant backlash from New College alumni; some alums were kicked out of the last board meeting after speaking out against it.
Silagy observed that, when he thinks of honors colleges, which New College has been deemed by the state, he does not see more than a third of students participating in athletics.
“I want to make sure everybody has read this strategic plan and that if you support this, okay,” Silagy said.
“We’re supporting the honors college having 35% of their students be student athletes and the $100+ million to support that, that goes with that. That’s what we’re saying, and we are supporting spending a lot more money to educate a very small number of students that already cost exponentially more of state taxpayer dollars to educate. And I personally have real concerns with that.”
During the past 18 months, Gov. Ron DeSantis has directed a makeover of New College, largely replacing its board of trustees and installing Corcoran, a Republican former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, as top administrator.
Following his first year on the job, Corcoran was paid $900,000 after bonuses, not including benefits. The college welcomed 709 students to campus in fall 2023, leaving each student paying more than $1,200 of his salary, although the state only allows use of state funds to pay for $250,000 of a president’s salary. The rest must be covered by private giving.
The takeover has included defenestrating the gender studies program and otherwise undoing the old, progressive approach in favor of conservative political values. The college has quashed all diversity, equity, and inclusion positions to comply with state law.
According to Corcoran, though, athletics have brought diversity to the campus.
“The number one reason that we were able eliminate and go 11 percentage points to 76% in student retention was 100% because the student athletes we bought on bought on greater diversity, both racial and gender diversity, which immediately eliminated the toxicity on campus and created a greater culture of unity of ‘us,’ instead of ‘us versus them,'” Corcoran said.
The school launched its athletics mascot, the Mighty Banyans, in 2023 and, in July 2024, joined the Sun Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“There was no diversity on that campus until Gov. DeSantis made the changes with the new board,” Corcoran said.
Board member Ken Jones said he supports the incremental investments in “something that’s new” as long as it levels out.
“That’s the way great things get created. That’s why we have, you know, the Magnificent Seven [technology companies], right? You’ve got Netflix and Google and Amazon and Meta and everything else,” Jones said. “They started out as companies that didn’t look so hot at the beginning because they were losing money. A lot of money, and it took years to get there.”
“So, I’m okay putting money in, but I just want to be sure that the pro forma, the budget, if you will, looks like it can actually get to something that makes sense, whether it’s five years or 10 years from now.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.
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