Scott Talks of Tying College Funding to Student Success

Getting a good return on the state’s investment was Gov. Rick Scott’s catchphrase Wednesday as he pushed universities to measure college students’ performances. Scott said he wanted to measure whether students found jobs or went on to get more education after college, what their salaries were and how much their degrees cost. “Everybody in our state pays taxes,” he said to a room of university presidents and state educational leaders Wednesday in Sarasota. “This is their money. They want to get a return . . . We ought to allocate the money based on returns.” The discussion of tying students’ performances to funding public universities was one of the issues brought up Wednesday during the Florida Board of Governors meeting. The board, which oversees the 12 public institutions, began a two-day meeting Wednesday at the New College of Florida.