Friday, February 19, 2010
A conference concerning distance learning and graduate education was held today at the University of Florida. UF officials say the university will see great changes in the areas of enrollment, tuition, and graduate education. President of the University of Florida Bernie Machen says undergraduate students could see as much as a fifteen percent increase in tuition in the upcoming years due to lack of stimulus funds. Machen also believes the state will be unable to provide public universities with relief to combat budget deficits. He says distance learning will provide the university with relief.Chairman to the Board of Trustees Mac McGriff also believes distance learning will help UF. McGriff says the university cannot rely on the state to fix the universities budget problems. McGriff emphasizes that the Board of Trustees is focused on getting graduate education up to the same prestigious level UF is known for in undergraduate education. UF officials assure the public that while many changes are to come to the university, they are keeping what is in the best interest of the student's educational experience at UF in mind.