TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Students and administrators at two Florida schools are fighting a controversial bill that seeks to merge them into the two oldest state universities.

The House bill filed earlier this month seeks to merge Florida Polytechnic University with the University of Florida and the New College of Florida with Florida State University.

“Why would you take out two of its most distinctive members?” New College President Donal O’Shea told WFTS, the ABC affiliate in Tampa, during his trip to Tallahassee on Wednesday to lobby for his school’s survival. “How is that good for the state?”

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, said the reason is financial, contending that Florida Polytechnic and New College spend too much money on the degrees they award.

“It’s our responsibility to look at what that’s costing the taxpayer and if there is a better way,” House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Hialeah, said.

HB 7087 passed the Education Committee in a 12-6 vote last week and is currently under review by the Appropriations Committee.

Florida Polytechnic opened in Lakeland in 1988 as a branch campus of the University of South Florida before becoming an independent university in 2012.

New College was founded as a private institution in 1960 before becoming a branch campus of USF in Sarasota. It severed ties with USF to become independent in 2001.

If approved by the full House, FSU would assume New College and UF would assume Florida Polytechnic effective July 1, 2021.