Students who attend public colleges in Florida will now know exactly what their education will cost under a new measure signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Introduced by Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr. (R-Hialeah) in February and signed into law by DeSantis on April 19, SB 7044 requires that all Florida public colleges and universities post on their websites all tuition and fees connected to their academic programs including the cost of books and other instructional materials.
It also requires the schools to give students advance notice whenever a school intends to raise its fees.
“This legislation furthers our commitment to making sure higher education is high quality, low cost and linked to a good job in a field our growing communities need,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby).
The measure also requires that public colleges and universities do away with duplicative coursework in their general education programs in order to prevent students from taking the same course at different schools because of differences in the way courses are labeled. Eliminating the course duplication is also aimed at facilitating school-to-school credit transfers within the Florida college and university system.
SB 7044 became effective upon DeSantis’ signature.
