It's official, FGCU will lose $8 million in funding because of poor scores

Show Caption Hide Caption How much money will FGCU's president get paid? The Florida Gulf Board of Trustees selected Michael Martin in February to serve as the fourth president in FGCU history.

Florida Gulf Coast University, as expected, will lose a little more than $8 million in performance-based funding.

The school was one of the three lowest performers out of the 11 state schools graded, according to scores released Thursday by the Florida Board of Governors. The scores are based on the performance in 10 categories.

FGCU totaled 66 points. The University of North Florida was the worst with 58 points, followed by Florida A&M's 65 points. FGCU was two points shy of tying FIU's 68 points and receiving money.

University of Florida's 95 was the highest score, followed by University of South Florida, University of West Florida and Florida State.

Each category was scored with one being the lowest and 10 the highest.

The FGCU Board of Trustees spent time earlier this year reviewing how the school performed in the 10 categories during the 2015-16 school year. Ron Toll, provost and vice president for academic affairs, at the time offered the trustees little reason to be optimistic of receiving the money.

FGCU had been worried since late last year that a change to one of the performance-based funding categories would cause other schools to outperform it and force FGCU into the bottom three.

FGCU expressed concern when the Florida Board of Governors decided to replace the average cost per degree measurement with the net tuition per degree metric. FGCU's net tuition cost is among the highest in the state university system.

The new metric takes into account 11 factors including how much financial aid, grants and scholarships the universities are offering students. Part of the reason the board of governors decided to use the metric is its belief it will force schools to keep costs low for students.

FGCU scored a zero in the improvement category. It also scored a zero in the academic progress rate for second year retention with a GPA above 2.0.

FGCU argued it is disadvantaged by the new metric for several reasons, including not being funded at the same level as some other state universities, and it does not have a large enough endowment to help defray costs for as many students as it would like to help.

FGCU's state funding per full-time equivalent student was $6,013 during the 2016-17 school year. It ranked next to last when compared to nine of the 12 state universities.

"It's not a level playing field," Steve Magiera, vice president for administrative services and finance at FGCU, said at the spring trustee meeting.

FGCU's improvement plan in the net tuition per degree category includes providing students more tuition waivers, implementing a policy that will limit the number of courses students can withdraw from without academic penalty and introducing Soar Higher.

The school crafted a worst case scenario plan earlier in the year. The $8 million loss is part of the $24.2 million budget that takes effect Oct. 1.

The savings will come from canceling a renovation project to create additional study space in the library; reducing part-time employment; reducing employee travel; not filling some vacant positions; decreasing lawn and custodial services; and raising thermostats for cooling of buildings, said Susan Evans, vice president and chief of staff.

"We are disappointed to be in the bottom three for performance funding," she wrote in an email. "While there are metrics on which we performed well, the bottom line is we must improve our four-year graduation rate."

One of the performance-based-funding categories that FGCU made an improvement in was its six-year graduation rate. The six-year graduation rate increased 2.5 percent.

The median wages of a bachelor's graduate employed full time one year of graduation improved 3.1 percent to $36,300 annually.

How FGCU Scored

Performance compared with previous year

1. Percent of bachelor's graduates employed or continuing their education a year after graduation. 65.8 percent, up 1.5 percent.

2. The median wages of a bachelor's graduate employed full time one year of graduation improved. $36,300 annually, up 3.1 percent.

3. Net tuition and fees per 120 credit hours. $18,790, up 0.5 percent.

4. Six-year graduation rate. 45.5 percent, up 2.5 percent.

5. Academic progress rate (2nd year retention with GP above 2.0). 72.9 percent, down 0.6 percent.

6. Bachelor's degrees awarded in areas of strategic emphasis. 47.9 percent, up 3.2 percent.

7. University access rate (percentage of undergraduates with a Pell Grant). 31.9 percent, down 2.3 percent.

8. Graduate degrees awarded in areas of strategic emphasis. 65.3 percent, up 5.2 percent.

9. Percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded without excess hours. 75.6 percent, decline of 0.4 percent.

10. Bachelor's degrees awarded to minorities. 549, an increase of 8.9 percent.

Source: Board of Governors