New College to get tens of millions from state, but there are strings

New College of Florida is slated to receive tens of millions of dollars in a budget approved this month by the Legislature – but will face requirements tied to some of the money. The proposed 2024-2025 state budget, which needs approval from Gov. Ron DeSantis, includes $10 million for “operational enhancements” at the school.

New College President Richard Corcoran and the school’s Board of Trustees would determine the way the money is spent. But $5 million would have to go toward providing scholarships.

Increasing enrollment at the small liberal-arts school has been a goal of Corcoran and trustees, who have made major changes at New College over the past year. An additional $15 million would have to be spent for specific purposes laid out in the budget, with $10 million going to temporary student housing; $2 million to scholarships “to support student recruitment;” $2 million to “technology upgrades and improvements, academic coaches, and library resources;” and $1 million to improve campus security.

To receive the money, New College would have to submit a plan to the state system’s Board of Governors that “describes the institution’s long-term student enrollment goals and how it will use the funding provided by the state to achieve these goals.” The plan would be required to include specific strategies and initiatives to boost enrollment and maintain academic standards.

The Board of Governors also would be required to submit quarterly “status reports” to the chairs of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. The reports would have to detail things such as New College enrollment counts, money spent for each strategy in the plan and “corrective actions or changes in strategies necessary, if any, to reach the milestones identified in the business plan.”