New College of Florida is far outspending the state's public universities, while outcomes for its graduates rank at or near the bottom.
The findings come from a recently published report by the state's Department of Government Efficiency presented to the Florida Board of Governors on Thursday.
The BOG met at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa.
Ben Watkins, the director of the Florida Division of Bond Finance, described the audit as the "product of eight months of hard work."
"What we're recommending is for the universities to think about themselves as business enterprises and to manage their operations accordingly," said Watkins.
The 26-slide presentation outlined various performance metrics of each of the 12 state universities.
According to the analysis, it costs $494,715 to produce a degree at New College, far surpassing any other state institutions. The second highest cost is Florida Polytechnic University at $154,213 per degree.
A degree at the University of South Florida costs $72,252, seven times less expensive than New College.
The University of Central Florida was the least expensive at $46,548.
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In terms of operating expenses per student, New College surpassed its peers again at $83,207.
The second highest expense per student came from the University of Florida at $45,765.
UF also ranked among the top for degree yield — the percentage of students graduating in any year — at 32%, while New College ranked second to last with 19%.
Meanwhile, New College placed last for the percentage of bachelor degree graduates who are employed or continuing their education. At 65%, the school ranks below the university system average of 74%.
In addition, the starting salaries of New College graduates in FY2023 came second to last at $46,100. The lowest is Florida A&M University, with graduates earning a starting salary of $45,800.
Watkins' presentation was met with little discussion at Thursday's meeting. Eric Silagy, who has criticized New College's spending before, said the report helped identify patterns and any "outliers."
In a committee meeting held earlier in the day about performance-based funding, Silagy brought up the discrepancy between New College spending and its performance.
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"If you're going to pay a lot more for something, personally, I expect exceptional performance," said Silagy, "and that's not what we're getting."
Since Gov. Ron DeSantis' overhaul of the small liberal arts college, critics have brought up the school's soaring expenses while serving an enrollment of about 900 students.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that New College's total spending in 2021 was about $53 million. In 2025, that increased to about $93 million.
As expenses balloon while New College's rankings fall, it's brought out fears of the school's closure and possible privatization, reported Inside Higher Ed.
In a preview of the Board of Governors' next scheduled meeting on January 28-29, the university system's Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said they would tackle DeSantis' directive to end the use of H-1B visas.
The H-1B visa program allows employers to hire workers from outside of the U.S.
"We've heard the call to address it and we will continue to work with our universities and staff to answer the call," Rodrigues told the Board.
DeSantis brought up the issue during an appearance at USF on Oct. 29, criticizing institutions for abusing the program and accused schools of hiring cheap labor instead of qualified U.S. citizens.
Information from the News Service of Florida was used in this article.
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