Florida Governor Rick Scott is renewing his call for state colleges and universities to be more affordable —and this morning he brought that message to the offices of software company Hashrocket in Jacksonville Beach.
“If you just think about it, you know — whether it’s anything else you acquire — you always expect a higher value at a lower price all the time," he said. "You should expect the same thing out of education.”
As part of his new “Finish in Four, Save More” campaign, Scott said he wants to expand the Bright Futures scholarship program to cover summer classes. He also wants to keep student fees from getting higher.
According to Scott, students at Florida's 12 state universities pay on average about $200 per credit hour to attend school. But half of that charge is for fees covering services such as health care, student activities, technology and transportation.
Scott is calling on state lawmakers to freeze student fees at all of Florida’s state universities and colleges. He said his goal to help undergraduates earn a degree and not be buried under a mountain of debt.
But his proposals could run into trouble in the Legislature, as the state faces an extremely tight budget this year.
Reporter Cyd Hoskinson can be reached at choskinson@wjct.org or on Twitter @cydwjctnews
