FAMU Among Florida Colleges Targeted by Report For Massive Changes
State commission considers having the HBCU drop its graduate programs.
By Blair S. Walker

Florida is mulling a proposal that would convert one of the country’s premier Black universities into an institution that only grants four-year degrees.

This suggested switch in Florida A&M University’s status was made with an eye toward helping Florida’s 11 state colleges and universities better cope with explosive student growth, officials say.

“We would have to disagree with any report that would limit Florida A&M University’s ability to deliver under higher programs, and only agree to programs that help FAMU to move upward,” incoming FAMU President James H. Ammons told Black College Wire. 

For the time being, the State University System of Florida, or SUS, is merely gathering information on the proposal, which would dramatically transform the historically Black university renowned for its pharmacy school and MBA program.

The proposal came from a study done for SUS’s Board of Governors, a 17-member panel that oversees the Sunshine State’s higher education system. The study was prepared at a cost of $200,000 by the Pappas Consulting Group Inc., a Stamford, Conn.,-based company that works with educational and nonprofit organizations.

Citing Florida’s need for an “additional access point to undergraduate education over the next two decades,” the Pappas report suggests that FAMU and five other Florida schools be converted into a ‘State College System.’

The other institutions were Florida Gulf Coast University, the New College of Florida, the University of Central Florida, the University of North Florida and the University of West Florida.

The Pappas report singles out these schools because they have significantly more undergraduate students than graduate students. According to data collected by the Pappas Consulting Group, FAMU’s student makeup is 87 percent undergraduate and 13 percent graduate.