New College of Florida announced plans to embark on a transformative plan for its future, with the funding to expand the number of students it provides with its unique and world-class education by 50 percent. With Gov. Rick Scott’s signing of the 2017-18 state budget, this new funding provides $5.4 million to New College for the first phase of a growth plan, unanimously approved by the State University System Board of Governors in November 2016 and endorsed by approval of the Florida Legislature in May. This first phase will allow New College to begin recruiting 15 new faculty in 2017-18, beginning three years of hiring that will add 40 new professors. That will bring the College’s total full-time faculty to 120 by 2020-21. At the same time, New College will begin to gradually expand its enrollment, to an estimated 900 students by 2018-19 and 1,200 by 2022-23. Both enrollment and faculty would grow by 50 percent over that time, allowing the College to maintain its hallmark 10:1 student-faculty ratio and small classes with close faculty-student mentoring. Staffing would grow by about 20 percent, to accommodate the admissions and student support positions needed for the larger enrollment. New College will work with its partners in the College Consortium to expand infrastructure and explore public-private partnerships (P3) for housing infrastructure needs. Funding for this will be requested in subsequent years.

New College of Florida