Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he’s ready to put the brakes on tuition hikes for college and university students across Florida.

“I don’t believe in tuition hikes,” Scott said. 

He added, “We have to do what the private sector has done, what every family has done. We have to tighten our belts to see how we can save money. That’s the first thing I want to focus on: How do we reduce our costs, rather than how do we raise tuition.”

Last week, 300 Florida university students rallied at the Capitol to oppose what looks like another push by the Legislature to approve a tuition increase. Tuition at five Florida universities has climbed 60 percent over the past four years, while students at the other six public universities have weathered a 45 percent boost in that time.

The presidents of the University of Florida and Florida State University earlier this month urged a House committee to give schools authority to begin charging higher tuition for science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs — the STEM degrees that Scott says are the path to employment in the evolving economy.

The House budget committee Wednesday looks set to approve another potential 15 percent boost in university tuition as part of its $69 billion state spending plan. College tuition would climb 8 percent, under the plan.

Florida’s tuition has been climbing even as state support for universities has dropped 24 percent since 2008, shifting more school costs onto students and their families. The state’s tuition remains the 45th lowest rate in the country.

But while universities have been cutting programs to reduce costs, Scott thinks more reductions can be made at the administrative level.

Six-figure salaries paid to high-level administrators seem to have endured Florida’s prolonged economic slump. Over the past year, they’ve become a rallying point at campus protests.

“I want the cost of living in this state to be lower than other states, I don’t want it to be higher than other states,” Scott said. “Would you think that way in business? You’d wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, gosh. The other business, it costs them more to do things, so let me raise my prices.’ You don’t do that. You figure out, how can we be efficient.” 

In the latest swipe by public officials at the state higher education system, a Senate panel Monday narrowly approved a measure to bar legislators from working for Florida colleges or universities while in office — and for as much as two years after they leave office.

The legislation (SB 1560) was approved in a 7-5 vote by the Ethics and Elections subcommittee. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, has joined Gov. Rick Scott, incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and other lawmakers who have been turning up the heat on Florida schools for how they spend their money.

Thrasher said having lawmakers on the payroll of colleges and universities has the “perception” of a conflict-of-interest, especially when they vote on legislation or budget matters that effect a school that employs them.

“It’s been the subject of a lot of concern,” Thrasher said. “It’s something that needs to have this conversation.”

Several House and Senate members work for colleges and universities — the most prominent being Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, an instructor at the University of Florida. But Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, was among several lawmakers who questioned how far Thrasher wanted to go in restricting legislators’ outside employment.

“I have a real problem with this bill,” Detert said.

Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, said, “I believe this is discrimination against a whole class of people. What’s next?”

Colleges and universities have been under the microscope since last summer, when Scott first started questioning whether schools were putting enough focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs, saying such STEM disciplines were the key to building a future workforce. Scott also posted online the salaries of State University System employees.

Lawmakers currently employed by colleges or universities would be allowed to retain their jobs, under the bill. But it would clearly affect those who might be angling for work once they leave office.

Defending his call for the measure, Thrasher cited a 2010 statewide grand jury report which questioned the scope of the state’s current ethics’ laws, and suggested ways to toughen them.

House negotiators bowed to resistence from the Senate — and the University of Florida — and agreed Saturday to keep sports agents among the professions regulated by the state.

House budget chief Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, went along with Senate counterpart, J.D. Alexander’s request earlier Saturday that sports agents not be included in more than a dozen professions the state is looking to deregulate.

Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said he’d gotten a call Friday from University of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, urging that the state maintain oversight of agents.

The House agreed. In the deal, Alexander went along with a House pitch to deregulate interior designers. But both sides agreed to maintain state oversight of health and dance studios, and travel sellers, other professions the Senate balked at freeing.

Cutting state regulations have been a central theme for Gov. Rick Scott. But the consensus package coming together in the Legislature is a scaled-back version of a more sweeping plan that advanced by the House.

UF’s interest in athletic agents stems, in part, from its recent history. Several former Gator football players including Ike Hilliard, Fred Taylor and Jacquez Green were duped by sports agent William “Tank” Black, who in 2003 was sentenced to five years in prison.

Football in Florida — especially University of Florida football — packs plenty of muscle in the state Legislature.

So when Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said the Senate was having problems with the House’s push to deregulate more than a dozen profession, including athletic agents, he wasn’t averse to some influential name-dropping.

Alexander said Saturday morning that the day before he received a call from UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, reminding him of past tales of agent abuses, urging that the state maintain oversight of the profession.

“I’m very hesitant to deregulate that particular one,” Alexander said. “But we’re trying to find common ground.”

Alexander’s House counterpart, Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, said during Saturday morning’s budget negotiations that her side would have to talk further about the Senate’s counter-proposal, which would maintain regulation of health clubs, dance studios and talent agents.

The House earlier this month approved legislation deregulating movers, auto repair shops, travel agents, auctioneers, telemarketers, architects and several other professions as part of a sweeping push to cut government red tape, a goal endorsed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Alexander, however, warned Saturday that many of the professions in line for being cut free have figured in past headline-grabbing scandals.

Talks between the budget chiefs are expected to continue at least through Saturday.

The kind of entertainment you'll find at lexandterry.com.

A syndicated program on a University of Florida radio station that features segments like “Running of the Bums” and “Mental Challenge, ” which asks callers to pick the real “mentally challenged” person, has been targeted by a pair of Florida House lawmakers who are asking college President Bernie Machen to step in and address the “unacceptable” material for a station at taxpayer-funded university.

“It is not our intention to censor positions or views. However, subject matter which is dehumanizing and/or degrading to the physically disabled or offensive to a specific gender or race in unacceptable,” state Reps. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington, and Erik Fresen, R-Miami, wrote to Machen. (Read the full letter here.)

The program, Lex & Terry, was originally launched in Jacksonville in 1993 but it now aired out of Dallas, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union. The program recently signed with Clear Channel after splitting with Cox Radio, which owns four radio stations in Florida and whose parent company, Cox Enterprises, also owns The Palm Beach Post.

The program was already canceled once by Machen, who trumpeted the achievement last year in news stories as a sign he was ridding the university of its party school image.

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