UPDATE: The FGCU Board of Trustees approved the Governor’s Challenge Rebate Program at its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 19.
Getting off to a great start is important for any college freshman, but soon it will mean even more at Florida Gulf Coast University.
How much more? Up to $4,200 back in the pockets of students willing to complete their work in a timely, efficient way.
FGCU President Wilson G. Bradshaw announced the plan — called the Governor’s Challenge Rebate Program — at a recent state Cabinet meeting as the university’s proactive response to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s “Ready, Set, Work” Challenge. Under that initiative, each of the 12 state-funded universities are committed to 100 percent of students in their two most popular degree programs getting jobs within a year of graduation.
First-year students at the Southwest Florida university who declare a major and graduate with a bachelor’s degree within the traditional four years will earn a chance to get repaid all out-of-pocket tuition costs they incur that freshman year. It’s little surprise that such a grand plan is generating a lot of buzz even before its rollout.
“We’re already getting phone calls about this and it hasn’t even been formally put into place,” Bradshaw said.
FGCU not only has embraced that challenge with its two top programs — communication and business management — but has upped the ante by challenging incoming students in all its programs to do the same. Meet that challenge and FGCU will refund every penny the student paid for freshman tuition not covered by scholarships, grants or waivers, including student loans. In 2015-16, that means up to $4,200 based on 30 credit hours.
Although student loans are the second-leading source of debt in the U.S. behind mortgages — accounting for a staggering $1.2 trillion, according to online business and investment news source MarketWatch — FGCU already does an exceptional job of keeping its students from adding to that total. Bradshaw proudly points out that about half of FGCU graduates leave with no debt, and those who do have roughly $24,000 to pay back — much less than the $35,000 in loans the typical 2015 college graduate is burdened with.
Instead, this rebate program is more about providing incentive to students to do an even better job of not accumulating unnecessary debt or credit hours by successfully getting through their undergraduate years as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“The idea is that we motivate students to finish in a timely manner — four years — and we motivate students to get jobs that pay above what the Board of Governors has established as the threshold annual salary — $25,000,” said Ron Toll, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Although some details of the rebate program are still being worked out before the plan is presented to FGCU’s Board of Trustees for approval and implementation, some of the criteria include:
- The inaugural class of students must have started as freshmen in either summer or fall of 2015 and declared a major to be eligible for the program. They can switch majors if they choose, but still must graduate within four calendar years — by 2019 for the inaugural class — and prove they have a job in Florida within six months of graduation that pays at least $25,000 annually. All future freshmen automatically become eligible for the program.
- Students must get counseling on job prospects in their respective majors throughout their four years and utilize FGCU’s Career Development Services for advice on how to prepare for interviews and create effective resumes, participate in job fairs and apply for full-time employment.
- Students must participate in internships, co-op work experiences or other similar apprenticeship opportunities with potential employers.
Reach these goals and FGCU will refund out-of-pocket tuition costs for all credit hours completed freshman year — up to 30. The rebate does not cover fees, books, housing, meal plans or other non-tuition costs.
The university is planning to raise enough to cover $1.5 million in rebates for the inaugural class of eligible students, which Toll says is a “conservative business model that we estimated on the very high side.” That would be enough to cover the full in-state tuition costs for the freshman year of 357 students. With up to 85 percent of FGCU students receiving some amount of financial assistance that doesn’t have to be repaid, that leaves plenty of wiggle room.
Bradshaw said that among the details still being discussed is how the rebate program will be funded. “We are confident that we can cover the cost of the program using non-state dollars, including but not limited to private philanthropy and grant procurement.” he said.
Besides offering enticement to be a model student after you get to FGCU, the rebate program also has potential as a recruiting tool. Kelli Carico of Fort Myers, Fla., whose 19-year-old daughter, Kylie, started at FGCU this past fall and declared psychology as a major, called the unexpected possibility of a tuition refund “amazing.”
“It’s going to be very helpful in keeping students on schedule, and give them a reason to plug hard all four years,” Carico said. As far as she’s concerned, that already gives FGCU the inside track as a first-choice school for Carico’s son after he graduates high school in four years.