The Florida Legislature eight years ago scanned the horizon and wisely recognized that our state’s economic future demanded a greater emphasis on STEM skills. Lawmakers created Florida Polytechnic University as a small, independent institution dedicated to nothing but science, technology, engineering and mathematics. After the ramp-up period and the upfront costs associated with such a bold, high-quality startup venture, Florida Poly has exceeded all accreditation benchmarks and performance timelines and is delivering outstanding results. 

So it is truly baffling why the Legislature would propose merging Florida Poly with the University of Florida, destroying our independence. This proposal is based on questionable cost savings using statistics that portray Florida Poly as unduly costly. The truth is that our university is providing an exceptional education to emerging innovators at an entirely reasonable cost and catapulting our graduates to a median first year salary of $54,800 a year – the highest in the State University System.  

I hope lawmakers will ultimately recognize the numerous benefits of retaining and sustaining Florida Poly as a stand-alone institution, one that offers a unique educational opportunity to young men and women who are already filling a critical talent need in our emerging knowledge economy. 

The Florida Chamber says Florida suffers from a shortage of 55,000 unfilled STEM jobs, while the Florida Council of 100 worries our state has lower talent availability due to an underdeveloped pipeline of workers with STEM skills. These prominent business organizations understand Florida needs precisely the kind of exceptional graduates Florida Poly is producing.

Developing highly skilled, specialized graduates is essential, but it is not easy or inexpensive. Still, in the last complete fiscal year, the entire cost of operating Florida Poly accounted for just 0.87% of total expenditures for the State University System. The proposed legislation is aimed at saving a questionable fraction of that 0.87% and risks damaging an institution that is already having an annual economic impact of over $290 million.  

Critics argue Florida Poly is spending too much on administration. But there is no uniform method for how administrative costs are tracked, and some universities count these costs within each college as “instructional” expenditures. Florida Poly does not have such colleges, so none of our administrative costs are counted as “instructional” in this way – a statistic some are now using to make it appear that our administrative costs are relatively higher.  

The proposal also does not recognize that research-intensive engineering programs are considerably more expensive per degree than programs in the liberal arts, social sciences and business, which account for most of the degrees at comprehensive universities like UF.

Our students chose Florida Poly because they were attracted by small classes taught by full-time, expert faculty, its world-class laboratories and technology, and the fact that it stands by itself in a diverse State University System. They did not apply to Florida Poly to attend a branch campus of a massive university more than two hours away. 

Florida Poly is doing exactly the job it was asked to do by the Legislature in 2012. It would be unfortunate, and counterproductive, to undermine its status by making it just another branch of a larger university. And doing so without transparent, careful deliberation of facts and data is not consistent with the values we have found that otherwise exist in the Florida Legislature.    

Dr. Randy Avent is president of Florida Polytechnic University.