Conspiracy theorists have plenty to ponder.
Did USF get sandbagged by UF or, more likely, FSU on “pre-eminent” status? Over dollars they didn’t want to split three ways? Did a John Thrasher ‘Nole-mole move the goal posts from a four-year graduation rate of 50 percent to 60 percent? Or was this just a last-minute, transparency-challenged, stuff-happens dynamic in a legislature where nothing is guaranteed except frustration, duplicity and dysfunction?
For the record, USF, an urban university with more diversity than its Gainesville and Tallahassee counterparts, has a four-year graduation rate of 54 percent. That’s a notable improvement from a few years ago–but now shy of the new, last-second standard. For further context, it should be noted that the four-year college graduation rate nationally is 26 percent.