UCF’s next president should stress quality over quantity
When John Hitt gave his inaugural speech at UCF on Nov. 19, 1992, the school’s new president said it was time “to write the next chapter in the saga of a university destined for greatness.”
When the next inaugural speech is delivered in the summer of 2020, the new president should explain how the next chapter will be different: Bigger is no longer better at UCF.
The school came a long way under Hitt, becoming the largest university in the country. The next goal is to make the school as good as it is big.
We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but not much. After delays and malaise over the construction spending controversy, UCF’s quest for a president is finally getting serious.
A president is expected to be named by next summer. The 15-member search committee has been holding forums seeking public input.
The best advice comes from interim president Thad Seymour:
“By any measure, we have achieved scale (by becoming) one of the largest institutions in the country,” he said last month. “We’re now really doubling down on the excellence part of the equation.”
“Scale” would be 68,000 students. That number has tripled since 1992, and U.S. News and World Report now ranks the school as No. 1 in student population.
Hitt turned a commuter school nicknamed “U Can’t Finish” into a brand-name university.
UCF became a vital supplier of skilled labor for a growing region, its campus was transformed and the football program got so good some fans are grousing over this season’s 9-3 record.
This year’s freshman class had an average high-school GPA of 4.17, an all-time high. The 90 new National Merit Scholars gave UCF a total of 330, another record.
In short, the school has a lot to be proud of. But the quick ascent has had consequences, and it’s fair to ask if UCF has gotten too big for its own good.
In his inaugural speech, Hitt listed five goals he wanted UCF to achieve by 2000. Number 1 on the list was “to offer the best undergraduate education available in Florida.”
Almost 20 years after the target date, UCF isn’t close. At least if you go by U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings.
The No. 1 school in enrollment was No. 166 in educational rankings. That’s respectable, but the University of Florida was No. 34, Florida State was No. 57 and the University of South Florida was No. 104.
Magazine rankings are far from infallible, but findings are based on real data and issues. UCF’s growth has strained campus infrastructure, packed classes and tested the school’s ability to cope.
The university’s student-to-faculty ratio is 30 to 1. The average ratio for public universities with at least 20,000 students is about 19 to 1.
UF’s ratio is 18 to 1, while FSU’s is 21 to 1 and USF’s is 22 to 1. Princeton, the No. 1 university in U.S. News’s rankings, has a ratio of 5 to 1.
Individualized instruction affects a student’s chances of success. At FSU, 56% of classes have 20 or fewer students. It’s 50% at UF and 44% at USF.
At UCF, it’s 26%.
Nobody expects UCF to become Princeton, with its $25.6 billion endowment, enrollment of 5,400 and tuition of $51,870 (UCF’s is $6,368 in-state). But when it comes to personalized education, it can certainly strive to beat USF and at least approach UF and FSU.
UCF’s growth contributed to the spending imbroglio that led to a presidential search. The complexities of state funding overcame the school’s system of checks and balances. That lax oversight led to the misallocation of $85 million in funds.
That led to the resignation of Dale Whittaker after just 236 days in office. Whittaker’s culpability was debatable, but the Florida Legislature wanted a scalp.
The next president’s first task will be rebuilding faith in UCF among lawmakers, faculty, students and the public, a process that Seymour’s steady leadership has begun. Plenty of other challenges await, but the overriding issue will always be improving the quality of education.
Hitt, ever the visionary, was tapping the brakes on enrollment before he retired in June of 2018. This year’s freshman class was about 300 students lower than 2018, and the school was planning to cut the number of transfer students.
Hitt left a brewing funding mess, but he also fulfilled much of what he laid out in his first speech. The path to greatness meant UCF had to get bigger.
The next step is to get even better.