UCF finishes 5th, nets $36M in state performance funds

TALLAHASSEE — The University of Florida finished first among the 11 universities eligible for state performance funding in the upcoming budget year, garnering $55 million of the $245 million total.

The University of Central Florida finished fifth on the list, earning $36 million in state performance funding, $3.6 million less than in the current year.

UF netted $7 million in new performance funding, up from $48 million in the current year, in a list approved Thursday by the state university system’s Board of Governors, which wmet at the University of South Florida.

The annual list is based on 10 measurements of performance by each of the institutions, including a six-year graduation rate, salaries of recent graduates, retention of students and student costs. Florida Polytechnic University, the state’s newest school, is not eligible yet.

While UF was at the top, dramatic performance funding shifts, both positive and negative, affected a half-dozen other schools.

The University of South Florida, ranked second on the list, netted $13 million in new performance funding, for a total of $45.4 million in state funding.

The University of West Florida, which received no state performance funding during the current year because it finished among the three lowest-performing schools, had the largest positive change, netting $21 million in state funding after finishing third on the new list. The Pensacola-based school, which finished second to last on the prior list, earned the $21 million in part by qualifying for bonus performance money awarded to the top three schools.

New College of Florida qualified for the first time for state performance funding since the current model was put in place in the 2014-2015 academic year, earning an additional $2.5 million.

Florida A&M University had the largest decrease in state performance funding. After earning $11.5 million this year, the school, which finished 10th on the list, will receive no state performance money in the budget year that begins July 1.