College Update

From: Sanford Shugart
To: All Faculty and Staff
Date: 3/31/03 10:33 AM
Subject: Update, 3-31-03


1. SACS - I'm sure you are all aware that the visiting team for the reaffirmation of our accreditation will be here this week. Please do your best to accommodate their requests for information and share freely your best thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the college. We hope to get useful recommendations from the team.

2. Politics and Budget - There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the House and Senate are both treating us much better than the Governor's original budget. The House budget cuts our system about $10 million and authorizes an increase in tuition of 7.5%. The Senate actually nets the system about $6.3 million and authorizes a 7% tuition increase. Of course, we requested much more than this and require much more to fund our enrollment growth this year. So, while we are being treated better than virtually any other agency in the budget, it will still feel like a budget cut because they fall so far short of funding our enrollment growth. System wide, we will be asked to serve some 50,000 unfunded FTE students. At Valencia, nearly a fourth of our total enrollment will be unfunded by the state.

The best outcome for us is for the legislature to move toward the position of the Senate, which is arguing that the state must find new, continuing sources of revenue. With new revenue on the table, we stand a chance of securing the $47 million we requested to fund half our enrollment growth, the other half coming from tuition.

One final word on this. I am serving as the "point man" for the 28 colleges on all of this in Tallahassee. I regret the time commitment this requires away from the college, but would rather be in this role than let someone else control our future. In addition, the remarkable reputation of the college serves us well in our advocacy. Thank you for continuing the tradition of excellence here.

I encourage you to continue to communicate directly with the House and Senate members from central Florida. Your voices reminding them that we have many unfunded students and are compelled to turn many more away will help me to make the case more powerfully.

3. Nursing Rules - We just received the report of the most recent round of licensure testing in Florida. More than 92% of Valencia's graduates passed the exam on first attempt. This is better than all of the larger community college programs by a significant margin, and better than 12 of the 16 four year college programs. The statewide rate for associate degree programs was 81.7% and for baccalaureate programs was 84.9%. Congratulations to the nursing students, faculty, and staff, as well as to the many others who support the preparation of our nursing students in every discipline.

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