The school improved from last place in 2019 to the middle of the pack in 2020 on the state’s performance-based funding model.
New College of Florida made major strides over the last year.
Last year, the state’s smallest public university had the lowest score of all 11 schools on Florida’s annual performance-based funding scores, earning just 67 out of 100 points.
New College doesn’t give students letter grades, but at most schools, a 67 is a D.
This year, New College improved by 20 points, finishing with 87 points and ranking sixth out of 11.
“We’re tiny, but when New College focuses its efforts, we’re mighty,” said Bradley Thiessen, New College’s chief of staff.
The funding model uses 10 metrics to assign a score, and universities receive more state funds if they hit certain benchmarks. New College’s improvement was the largest ever in the history of the state’s performance funding model, and the improvement brings with it $4 million in funding.
The money will go toward “scholarships, student success initiatives, risk mitigation for our fall opening, and building repairs,” spokeswoman Ann Comer-Woods said on Wednesday.
Stakes are high
The improvement comes at a pivotal time for the school.
Earlier this year, lawmakers floated the idea of eliminating New College’s independent status and placing it under the umbrella of the University of Florida. The school’s budget is less than 1% of the State University System’s total budget, but state lawmakers questioned whether the cost of funding a school that graduates roughly 200 students a year was worth it.
The proposal ultimately failed, with Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) killing the merger, but afterward Galvano raised some of the same questions his colleagues had.
Galvano said lawmakers were right to ask if “the exorbitant per-student cost of this particular student experience produces a return on investment for Florida taxpayers who support it, and does that return on investment require an administratively independent New College?”
Enrollment challenges
The major challenge for the school, if it hopes to stave off future merger attempts, is getting more students.
The school is in the midst of a growth plan that began in 2016, with the goal of having 1,200 students by 2023. Since the plan’s inception, the school has shrunk, going from 861 students in 2016 to 724 for the 2019-20 school year.
College officials are hoping to bring in at least 230 new students this fall.
New College improved their retention rate by 10% this year, and school officials say they have developed systems to identify students at risk of dropping out and intervening early to help the student graduate.
Even with improved retention, the proposed merger and pandemic have made recruitment efforts even harder.
In February, interim Dean of Enrollment David Rhodes told trustees that the rumors of New College being folded into another university was causing uncertainty among potential students – and that was before COVID-19 upended the school year.
The pandemic caused New College to shift all classes online. Universities across the state did the same, but at New College remote learning was an entirely new exercise.
The school had zero online courses prior to the pandemic, Provost Barbara Feldman said at the board’s April 21 meeting, unlike larger universities where many classes were already offered in a remote format.
University officials statewide are worried about the impact COVID-19 will have on fall enrollment, and it remains to be seen if a school known for its intimate environment will be able to attract more students as social distancing guidelines remain in place.
Comer-Woods said Wednesday that the school had received 20% more applications this year than in 2019, but the number of deposits for students who plan to enroll is at roughly the same amount as last year.
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New College improvements come at pivotal time - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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