UCF in line for $35M funding boost

State will consider awarding $265M total in incentive-based aid to public universities

Florida intends to distribute $265 million in “performancebased funding” to the state’s public universities based on measures like graduation rates; net tuition and fees; and the median wages of their alumni.

The University of Florida is slated to receive the biggest award at $47.7 million. The rest of the state’s universities are to receive smaller slices, with the University of Central Florida in line for $35.1 million.

The Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, plans to consider approving the funding on Thursday during a meeting conducted by video conference.

Also on Thursday, the board will consider approving a set of guidelines the state’s public universities will use to develop plans for reopening their campuses this fall. The 12 state schools switched to online-only classes in midMarch and largely remain shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Each university’s plans should address the use of face masks and testing for the virus, according to the proposed guidelines.

This is the seventh year Florida has distributed performancebased funding to its universities. The amount of additional money available to campuses has increased from $100 million in 2014 to $265 million during each of the past three years.

The money is awarded based on measures like the percentage of bachelor’s degree recipients who are employed or seeking additional education one year after graduation; the percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell grants; and the percentage of degrees awarded in specific areas, like education, science and engineering.

As well as receiving additional money, institutions that perform poorly on the state’s measures can lose funding, and see that money distributed to better-performing campuses, but that didn’t happen to any of the schools this year.

UF also was awarded the most funding last year, when it was allotted $47.3 million. Last year, UCF was allocated $36.7 million.

This year’s performance funding is subject to the approval of the 2020 General Appropriations bill from Gov. Ron DeSantis.