Debate Security Costs

Boca Raton's trying to charge FAU $24,550 for security costs at the presidential primary debate in January, which FAU is claiming we were never supposed to be charged for. That money's supposed to pay regular salary plus overtime for 59 cops who worked through the debate. That amount's worth 10 students' tuition for an entire semester; contrast that with 59 cops' salaries for a one-evening event.

FAU claims it won't be spending school money for the bill, though. In fact, we apparently don't plan on paying for it at all… Wonder how well that's going to work out, and if it's going to create tension between FAU and Boca Raton.

Read about it in the Palm Beach Post's Article: CLICK HERE

Budget Cuts Lock More Out of State Universities

The article explains the real life affects of the budget cuts that are happening to high school seniors as they are trying to apply for Florida’s 11 universities. The universities are taking
action and capping enrollment to compensate for this crucial budget cut. FIU President Modesto stated that making it harder for students to get into universities will affect the states ability to compete globally. The budget crisis for the universities is overwhelming and forcing those graduating from high school to go elsewhere or to a community college. This article represents high school students that are being hit hard by the effects of these budget cuts. To read it, CLICK HERE.

1000 PLUS!

We Recently sent a petition to Tallahassee urging legislators to protect the budget for higher education. WE COLLECTED OVER 1,000 SIGNATURES!! Among them were President Brogan and several members of SGA. Want to know what we had to say? Keep Reading!

Dear Senate President Pruitt,

A few weeks ago, we—the concerned students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton—hosted the largest student-initiated rally in our university’s history to raise awareness among our fellow students regarding the proposed budget cuts affecting our higher education, as well as sending a message to our state legislators about the importance of “S.O.S.”: Saving Our School. Now, we are sending you a different kind of “SOS”, as we are writing to request that you share this letter of petition with your colleagues in the Florida House of Representatives, and that it be entered into public record for all Floridians to see. Senator Pruitt, please act as our voice to your fellow Legislators.

We urge you as Legislators to preserve state funding of the State University System to the utmost of your ability. It is understandable that budget cuts must occur due to the cycles of our economy, but certain areas of the State budget should be preserved for the overall good of the Florida people who the Legislature represents. Through our intensive research, we have found that graduates of Florida schools are more likely to stay in the State, thus contributing to the overall state economy in the long run. We’ve also learned that experts suggest that the quality of a state’s public university system is a direct projection of the future of the economy for that state as a whole. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the tri-county area of Southeast Florida where we attend Florida Atlantic University.

Florida Atlantic University is made up of one of the most widely diverse student bodies in the United States, containing students of all ages, ethnicities, religions, cultures and general walks of life. Only on very few college campuses will you see a recent high school graduate studying for an exam with a recent retiree and a stay-at-home mom who has returned to finish her degree while her own children attend school—and FAU is proud to teach these traditional and non-traditional students alike. Together, if we are able to keep the access to higher education open to a wider group of people, this will help to break cycles of poverty and lack of education within the great state of Florida.

As a whole, the State University System is essential to the overall success of Florida. Please take the seriousness of this matter—and the hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and members of the community who have signed our petition—into consideration when making any final decision regarding the State's higher education budget.

Respectfully,
The Founding Students of the SOS Project at FAU

CITYLINK Cover Article

The SOS project team was featured in an article in CityLink magazine. The issue hit newsstands today, To read the story....Click HERE

Pay to Educate or Pay to Incarcerate

Article: Legislature's choice: Pay to Educate or Pay to incarcerate <-- CLICK HERE

This Letter to the Editor was written by an FAU Professor, and explores the statistics about the University system in Florida as well as offers a suggestion to Legislators to raise the bar for education to avoid the need for building more prisons. Would anyone like to offer their thoughts? Leave us a comment!

Funding From the Florida Lottery

There is a common misconception among people outside of the educational forum on how much money the lottery actually gives to education. id like to make it more apparent that the lottery doesn't give as much as we'd like to believe. I'm going to use FAU as an example for how much funding the lottery gives the State university System. From tuition FAU receives approx. $65million, and from the State budget approx. $125million. this is for general educational funding. now i have attached a link to the lottery homepage that gives a diagram of how much money they give. as you will see it is considerably smaller than people think, because it has to be divided up among all of the universities. the claims that the lottery funds education needs to be rethought and made apparent to the masses so that we can find another way to increase funding, i don't know how we as a state can go about finding another revenue stream to fund education because I'm not an expert but i do believe experts need to start thinking it over.

Florida Lottery Breakdown <-- CLICK HERE!

How Will Budget Cuts Affect YOU?

While most of the questions about the statewide budget cuts remain unanswered, one thing is for sure: we will all be affected in one way or another. Do you fear delayed graduation because of courses being cut or offered less often? Do you have a younger sibling who may be kept from being admitted to a decent Florida public university? We are hosting a Town Hall meeting on April 15th with Legislators and members of the media and we need your help. Write a comment that includes YOUR questions or comments for the Legislators or Administrators, and it may be read to the Senators, Representatives, and Faculty members attending the meeting. EVENT DETAILS TO COME