UCF enrollment down for fall, up for summer

President: University needs to consider long-term cost savings

As Florida’s public universities continue to offer classes only online and there’s no date set for a return to campus, enrollment for UCF’s fall semester is down, but sign-ups for summer classes remain strong.

Summer student counts are up more than 5% over last year’s and those students have enrolled in 10% more credit hours, University of Central Florida President Alexander Cartwright said while giving an update on the university’s finances during a committee meeting Wednesday morning.

But for fall, the picture is less rosy: Student counts and credit hours are down by more than 6% so far. Registration is still underway for the late-summer term and fall semester.

The university’s finances, which have taken a hit since the coronavirus pandemic first forced classes off-campus in March and canceled graduated ceremonies and other events, are closely linked to enrollment because about half of the school’s main operating fund comes from tuition.

The state budget, which provides the biggest slice of the university’s overall revenue, is also in question because Gov. Ron DeSantis has not signed the plan approved by lawmakers earlier this year before the widespread economic fallout from the pandemic was known.

Some lawmakers are pushing

for the governor to call a special session of the Legislature to address the nosedive some sources of public money — such as the sales tax — took as Floridians were ordered by DeSantis to stay home.

Last month, UCF staff told trustees they expect the university will lose $48.7 million in revenue as a result of the pandemic, partly the result of the decision to refund housing fees for the last part of the spring semester, after students were asked to move off-campus as well as fees that now won’t be collected for the summer terms.

While the university has made small changes intended to reduce costs, including ending most campus shuttle service, during the pandemic, it will need to look at other long-term savings, Cartwright said. He did not indicate how those cuts would take place.

Cartwright, who has been the university’s president for about a month, said there was “no master plan” readily available that would allow the school to quickly cut expenses.

Many students have also been hit hard by the pandemic, including thousands who are stuck paying rent at off-campus apartments even after the university canceled in-person classes.

Almost 20,000 students have applied for a slice of more than $25 million funding available through the university from the federal CARES Act, Cartwright said. The money can be used for expenses including rent, food, course materials, technology or child care.

Three-quarters of the money will go to students who are eligible for Pell grants, federal aid that goes to low-income college students. The other quarter will go to students who aren’t eligible, he said.