The Tampa Tribune reported today that Florida's oversight board for state run universities ordered the institutions under it to raise tuition by eight percent and begin cutting enrollment.

There are 11 public universities in Florida and they are faced jointly with a $147 million budget cut this fiscal year. Average class size is already above the national average. In fact, according to the Tribune, Florida's universities have the worst student teacher ratio of any state. So increasing class size is not really a solution to the system's financial problems.

The Miami Herald said that the oversight board, Florida's Board of Governors, discussed raising tuition 13% per year for the next five years, but that proposal was allowed to die.

The move will bring the university system's Board of Governors into conflict with the state legislature. Both those bodies say that they have the sole authority to raise tuition. The conflict is likely to end up in court. That battle has been going on since the Board of Governors was created by the legislature in 2002.