Article 18. College tuition increase proposed by board

The state university governing board voted to raise tuition , freeze enrollment and join a lawsuit against the Legislature. Sparking show down with the Florida Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist, the board that oversees universities voted Tuesday to freeze freshman enrollment, raise student tuition up to f percent and join a lawsuit that aims to wrest control over tuition and fees from state lawmakers. Bob Graham seeks to forever strip the power of setting tuition rates from state lawmakers and turn them over to the 17-member appointed panel, board members insisted they didn't want to spark a confrontation. They would simply take action to keep Florida's universities from slipping further into decline. Tuesday vote is the late test in a eight year tug of was of the fate of Florida's public universities. This spring lawmakers approved a 5% tuition hike t hat Crist vetoed. The governor agreed however to sign a law that let three top tier school-FSU, University of Florida,and University of South Florida increase the rates over the next four years and delay the tuition hike until fall 2008.