FAMU deals with budget cuts, athletics deficit and loss of revenue from band suspension - LYNN HATTER, WFSU

Florida A&M University is looking for ways to deal with legislative budget cuts and a deficit in its athletics program. Lynn Hatter reports the school is considering increasing tuition, and trying to find ways to deal with the expected loss of revenue from the absence of its main fall attraction: the band. Lawmakers cut the budget of all public universities this year to close a state deficit. Florida A&M’s share of the cut is about $20 million dollars. To make up for it, the legislature built in the assumption that universities would raise tuition by 15-percent. However, FAMU Trustee Marjorie Turnbull says the school should consider a smaller hike due to the impact the increase could have on a students’ ability to pay. “I have already said that a tax by any other name is still a tax. And we have chosen to raise tuition and fees on our students. What really is really a user tax on our students.”