Wow, you lucky Floridians!  You can attend a local state school for around $4,000 per year in tuition!  Up here in Massachusetts, we pay a lot more.

Looks like you’ll be facing a double-digit tuition increase this year though.  Governor Charlie Crist publicly supported the plan on Thursday, after university officials complained of $200 million in budget cuts over the past two years.

According to  the New York Times:

“The proposal from Mr. Crist, who in the past has opposed raising tuition, would give individual universities the power to increase it up to 15 percent annually until Florida’s in-state tuition rate reached the national average, now about $6,500 a year.

Florida’s current tuition for residents is among the lowest in the nation, averaging less than $4,000 a year, according to a new report by the College Board.

Unlike many other states, Florida has a university system whose tuition rates have been set annually by the Legislature. In the last two years, some of the state’s larger research universities have won the power to set a rate above what lawmakers approved, but even that has been subject to a cap.

At a news conference where he was flanked by higher-education officials, Mr. Crist described his proposal as a way of instilling financial stability at the state’s universities.  His turnabout was warmly received by university presidents, who have complained about the effect of almost $200 million in budget cuts over two years. To cope with those cuts, the universities have had to pare classes, eliminate some majors and lay off instructors.”