The Florida Board of Governors voted on March 26 to maintain current in-state tuition for the University of Florida’s weekend part-time Master’s in Business Administration program. The board voted 6-4 to increase tuition for the program for out-of-state students.
BOG Chair Alan Levine said he strongly opposed the motion to increase tuition for the MBA program across the board, citing concerns about accessibility for in-state students but believed moving forward with an out-of-state tuition increase would give the board more time to evaluate its broader impact.
“This is a massive policy change,” he said. “I think the Board of Governors has a responsibility, as a fiduciary board, to make a thoughtful decision as to how it affects in state students … other universities are going to come to us now with proposals, we want to make thoughtful decisions about this and not make a decision this big on the fly.”
Tuition for in-state students in UF’s part-time weekend MBA will remain unchanged. At the new Jacksonville campus, tuition will remain at $49,205 for the one-year track and $59,808 for the two-year track. In-state students enrolled in the part-time MBA at the Miami campus will continue to pay $66,807.
Tuition for out-of-state students in the programs will increase by about 20%. At UF Jacksonville, tuition will increase to $59,204 for its one-year track and to $71,807 for its two-year track. At UF Miami, tuition will increase to $79,807.
BOG member Kimberly Dunn said the board doesn’t need to prioritize keeping the program’s tuition low because it’s a market‑rate offering that doesn’t receive state funding.
“Market rate programs are not subsidized by taxpayer dollars. They’re self-sustaining, so all the expenses associated with the market rate program have to be carried by the tuition dollars or other auxiliary resources,” she said. “So, for me, a distinction between in state and out of state student programs for the market rate programs does not make sense.”
UF interim President Donald Landry urged the board to consider how the tuition increases would help improve UF’s standing. He said that the tuition increases were a part of his plan to elevate the part-time MBA program, among other graduate programs, into a top-five program.
“The MBA programs are languishing, and this is one way to supercharge them,” he said. “This is going to make us competitive. We’re not competitive, just operating out of Gainesville. That’s why looking at Miami, looking at Jacksonville, is so critical.”
About 40 in-state students enrolled in the current Gainesville-based program during the 2024–25 academic year, while 46 in-state students enrolled in the Miami program the same school year. Only two out-of-state students enrolled in the Gainesville-based program that year, and no out-of-state students enrolled in the Miami-based program.
UF’s weekend part‑time MBA remains “exceptionally well positioned in terms of value,” according to a university memo, which says the tuition increase would allow the program to compete with other nationally ranked MBA programs whose tuition “frequently exceeds $75,000 to $85,000 per year,” particularly at public flagship institutions like the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina and the University of Michigan.
The UF program was ranked No. 2 in the world for value by the Financial Times and No. 20 among public MBA programs nationally by U.S. News & World Report in 2025.
The last tuition increase approved by the UF provost and the UF Board of Trustees occurred in 2015.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: BOG freezes in‑state tuition for UF part‑time MBA, hikes out‑of‑state rate
Reporting by Chelsea Long, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
