the
FIGHT
for
FUNDING
The “Fight for Funding” is an investigation and analysis of the impact of performance-based funding on Florida Gulf Coast University, its students and the Southwest Florida communities surrounding it. It was created and produced as a senior Capstone project by a team of four FGCU journalism students.
Quick Access
Statistics
FGCU Performance Funding allocation
Total
14,943
White
64.4%
2016-17
$8 million
2017-18
$0
FGCU Students
Male
6,505
8,438
Female
Full-Time Attendance*
10,905
*Undergraduate
FGCU Student Demographics
Hispanic
20.1%
African American
8.5%
Asian
2.8%
Non-Resident
1.9%
Other
2.3%
FGCU First Time in College (FTIC)
2017
2014
2,775
2,624
FTIC Retention Rate
2017
2014
77.7%
79%
Retention rates measure how many students remain enrolled after a single semester.
Board of Trustees Quarterly Briefing Report March 2018
GRAPHICS
Ethnically-diverse schools offer students the opportunity to study and collaborate with undergraduates from racial and ethnic groups that are different from their own. FGCU is ranked #1,205 in ethnic diversity nationwide with a student body composition that is above the national average.
Source: College Factual
Financial assistance, such as scholarships, loans, and work-study is the way colleges reduce the cost of attendance so most students can actually afford to attend. Florida Gulf Coast University's standard financial aid plan for incoming freshmen is $11,658. Around 55.0% of first-year students obtain financial assistance, most of which is in the form of loans.
Source: College Factual
4 YEARS
6 YEARS
College Factual and the Board of Governors consider the "on-time" graduation rate for a bachelor's degree to be four years, but colleges typically report their graduation rates after six or even eight years. With a four-year graduation rate of 22.0%, first-time students in the FGCU class of 2012 who attended classes full time were less likely than average to graduate on time.
Source: College Factual
2017-18 RANKING
Ranking based on points earned in meeting performance metrics and how much they can qualify from the allocation money pool.
1. University of Florida
2. University of South Florida
3. University of West Florida
4. Florida State University
5. University of Central Florida
6. New College of Florida
7. Florida Atlantic University
8. Florida International University
9. Florida Gulf Coast University
10. Florida A&M University
11. University of North Florida
$55 million
$45.4 million
$20.9 million
$38.5 million
$35.7 million
$2.4 million
$19.3 million
$27.4 million
$0
$0
$0
Source: Florida Board of Governors
PERFORMANCE-BASED
FUNDING
WHAT IS IT?
According to the Center for American Progress website, performance-based funding is a system based on allocating a portion of a state’s higher education budget according to specific performance measures such as course completion, credit attainment, and degree completion, instead of allocating funding based entirely on enrollment. It is a model that theoretically provides a fuller picture of how successfully institutions have used their state appropriations to support students throughout their college careers and to promote course and degree completion.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
This not only hurts the public's perception of the school but also makes it harder to hire and keep professors. Fewer professors mean fewer classes. Another worrisome perspective concerns a lack of investment in infrastructure. FGCU, FAMU, and UNF received no performance funding. That was a loss for FGCU of $8 million.
THE
of Performance-Based Funding
METRICS
TEN
Public universities must meet the 10 metrics set by the state of Florida's Board of Governors to obtain the funding.
1
Percent of Bachelor's Graduates Enrolled or Employed in the U.S. One Year After Graduation
This metric is based on the percentage of a graduating class of bachelor’s degree recipients who are enrolled or employed (earning at least $25,000) somewhere in the United States. Students who do not have valid social security numbers and are not found enrolled are excluded.
2017-2018
FGCU STUDENTS EMPLOYED ONE YEAR AFTER graduation: 65.8 percent.
1.5 percent improvement
How is FGCU faring?
FGCU lost points in the following metrics: employment of undergraduates (metric 1), net tuition and fees of students (metric 3), and the academic progress rate which measures retention of students in their second year with a GPA above 2.0 (metric 5). FGCU underperformed in four-year graduation rates, average grades of 2.0 and access rates. However, the four-year graduation rate was not a measure used in the 2017 performance funding model.
Prior to Performance-Based Funding (PFB), the main funding source for Universities was based on the “enrollment funding model”, which used a formula to allocate a certain amount of dollars per full-time equivalent student. The exact amount received varied by institution and was of course influenced by available revenues to the state. The enrollment funding model (also known more simply as enrollment growth funding) made no deference to any performance measure or other factors. It simply funded each institution incrementally based upon growth in enrollment.
The fiscal year 2012-13 saw the Governor’s Office institute an early version of PBF. The fiscal year 2014-15 was the first year we saw an allocation methodology akin to what we have now.
The PFB model awards points based either upon “excellence” for having a high level of attainment on a given metric or “improvement” that awards you for incremental improvement from year to year. Given the nature of the model (the set scores to earn points under the excellence category), a fair number of points for the smaller and/or non-research intensive institutions comes from the improvement category. Thus, you can improve from year to year, but if the rate of improvement slows down you lose points even if the institution is doing better than the year before.
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Florida Gulf Coast University dropped points in three metrics but increased in two. The difference in points between the last two years was a net of one.
Given that PBF is a forced ranking, the performance of other institutions from year to year can impact greatly the funding received on any given campus. As we discussed the other day, a given institution can have good performance and yet still be “out of the money” given the nature of the system.
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FGCU does have room for improvement in measurements such as graduation rates and retention, however losing out on PBF resources is more than a matter of underperformance.
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A combination of factors led to the loss of funding, and it is imperative that the institution does everything it can to improve its performance across all the metrics, as this will lead not only to more funding but the ultimate goal of student success which is the reason FGCU is here in the first place.
Source: FGCU Budget Office
THE FGCU
Struggle
Since 2008, FGCU has been struggling to graduate its students in four years. There is a myriad of reasons for this trend. Some students regard FGCU as a springboard to reach other schools. Others have a hard time adapting to the life away from their families and find college overwhelmingly difficult to complete (either because of grades, money or health-related issues), especially first-generation and low-income students.
story by Summer Fernandez de Castro
“I always had it in my head that I’d go to college for four years and then graduate with all my friends."
story by Tatum Swann
College can be a struggle for any student, but for a student whose parents didn’t go to college, it can be more difficult.
First-GenVoices
story by Summer Fernandez de Castro
Mental health-related issues are the reason 64 percent of young adults who drop out of college.
story by Aubrey Westmoreland
FGCU lack of class and course options are some of the reasons students 'springboard' to other schools and why they are not able to complete their degree in fours years.
Assistant Dean of the Student Support Services and Outreach Programs.
“Over the years I have developed an affinity for working with students who struggle to overcome barriers to education, particularly with first-generation and low-income students who dream of having a college degree,” Kiesler said. She attributes this passion to her own first generation, low-income background.
"Basically it does (have a time limit to use the performance funding) because every year you’re competing for those dollars again," Vazquez said. "So, you have to make a choice; you have to assume a risk."
story by Aubrey Westmoreland and Bruno Halpern
Finding
aSOLUTION
As soon as Michael Martin was nominated FGCU's president in July 2017, he has made getting performance-based funding back one of his top priorities, chiefly by improving completion and retention rates as well as helping students graduate in four years.
“It's time to do things — not radically different — but sufficiently different that we can change the trajectory of students’ success on this campus,” FGCU President Mike Martin said.
story by Bruno Halpern
"We're the product of all this cross-section of folks that have an influence on us."
story by Aubrey Westmoreland
4th President of Florida Gulf Coast University
Martin shares his journey from first-generation student without a compass to president, and how FGCU copes and how it will rise to the challenge to reclaim its performance funding.
story by Aubrey Westmoreland
“Each design team will have specific objectives and roles to play,” VP Mitch Cordova said. “They are also going to help develop what may be future structure and functions of student success models.”
Professor and VP for Student Success and Enrollment Management.
Cordova explains Design Teams, his priorities as the new VP and main goals as the leader of this endeavor.
The program, called Soar in 4, offers FTIC students a full refund for all first-year, out-of-pocket tuition expenses for up to 30 credit hours if they graduate in four years or less and meet a set of requirements.
story by Tatum Swann
Legislation
FGCU and other public universities in Florida are not very satisfied with the current way the performance-based funding system works. The Board of Governors is open to changes, according to Rep. Ray Rodrigues. Changes to improve the system's faults might be on their way. However, it's not a guaranteed that they will be implemented or if those proposed changes will, in fact, improve the current scenario.
"I expressed my concerns to the Board of Governors already. And we’re working on policy changes for that and the future,” said Rep. Ray Rodrigues.
story by Bruno Halpern
FGCU Director of Community Relations.
Rodrigues delves into the intricacies of performance-based funding, its pros and cons, its past and future, and the universities' relationship between each other and the Board of Governors.
The Board determined that Florida’s public universities have to meet a four-year graduation standard instead of the previous six-year one.
story by Bruno Halpern
“(This) funding, provided both for operations and for an additional academic building, will lead to better outcomes for our students," President Martin said in a letter congratulating the Board of Governors.
story by Bruno Halpern
story by Tatum Swann
“I think one of the keys that we’re looking for is academic advising,” VP Steve Magiera said.
word from the Meeting
Board of Trustee member Joseph Fogg III
Student Government President Jalisa White
Vice-Chair of the BOT Robbie Roepstorff
FGCU Director of Finance Steve Magiera
community
fgcu
&
According to FGCU's official website, the school is a catalyst for the area’s economy and a cultural hub for the community. Its students enjoy one of the highest graduate employment rates among the state’s universities. Its campus and region serve as a living laboratory from which life-improving discoveries emanate. And its sports teams energize the entire region.
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FGCU ranks among the top Florida universities for alumni employed or continuing their education one year after graduation;
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319,783 student service-learning hours in the community in 2016-17;
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300+ community agencies in Southwest Florida provide service opportunities;
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45% students are from Southwest Florida (Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties), and 88% from Florida; 12% from other states and international;
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35% of alumni remain in Lee County and 14% Collier County;
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900+ non-credit courses offered each year at 11 regional sites through Renaissance Academy;
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Affordable programs on campus, off campus and online for professional training, certification and licensing and career development in public and private sectors.
Source: FGCU Official Website
story by Summer Fernandez de Castro
The university has made a conscious effort to positively impact Southwest Florida. Students are encouraged to participate in civic engagement and service learning in the area.
