Board of Governors official says Florida universities deliver strong return on investment; flags program reviews and teach-outs

Emily Sykes, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the Board of Governors, told the Florida House Career and Workforce Subcommittee that the State University System continues to provide an “extraordinary return on investment” and remains a national leader in affordability and student outcomes.

Sykes outlined the system’s new strategic plan (SUS 30), recent general-education reforms, a degree-productivity review and changes to performance-based funding that aim to align degrees with Florida’s workforce needs. She said the system’s data show most Florida resident undergraduates complete a degree without taking out loans processed through the university and that the board is tracking outcomes, including wages and employment, at one, five and ten years after graduation.

Why it matters: The Board of Governors’ actions shape which programs universities continue to offer and how performance-based funding rewards alignment with state labor demand. Legislators pressed for detail about how the review was done and what safeguards exist for students if a program is suspended or eliminated.

Key facts from the presentation

- Degree-productivity review: Sykes said the review examines degrees awarded over a three-year period and identified programs that fall below established thresholds; for bachelor’s programs the threshold was programs that did not award 30 degrees or more over three years. She said the review flagged “over 200 programs” across the State University System.

- University decisions and program outcomes: According to Sykes, universities reviewed the flagged programs and reported plans to continue at least 150 of them. The universities identified 18 programs for termination and 8 to suspend; Sykes said suspension means stopping new enrollments while the university reevaluates curriculum and viability.

- Teach-outs and student protections: Sykes told the committee that when a university elects to terminate a program it typically offers a teach-out for students currently enrolled and phases out enrollment over several semesters so students are not disrupted.

- Loans and student debt measurement: Sykes said the board’s 80% “no-loan” statistic covers loans recorded on a student’s financial aid package — that includes government loans and private loans coordinated through the university, but it excludes private loans a student or parent takes out independently from a bank.

- Performance metrics and goals: Sykes described performance-based funding metrics used to measure student success and program alignment (PBF metrics 1, 2, 6 and 8 were cited) and said the system set a target for the employment/continuation metric (noted as an 85% goal for the relevant outcome). She also cited a numerical goal for the median-wage metric described in the presentation as “60” (the unit or clarification was not provided during the hearing).

- Data tools: Sykes described My Florida Future, a tool the board updates (next scheduled update Jan. 1) that shows program-level outcomes including employment status, wages and student debt by major at 1, 5 and 10 years after graduation.

Q&A highlights and lawmakers’ concerns

Committee members asked detailed follow-up questions about the review’s methodology, the role of faculty availability in program decisions, workforce data sources, and whether terminated programs included areas tied to diversity, equity and inclusion.

- On faculty: Sykes said the board’s analysis did not examine faculty levels; the board shared degree-award data with universities, which then use other factors (including program importance to workforce, curriculum changes or consolidation opportunities) when deciding whether to suspend or terminate a program.

- On workforce alignment and data sources: Sykes said the board worked with Florida Commerce and other state partners and used state-level labor projections and thresholds for unfilled openings, growth rates and entry wages to identify programs of strategic emphasis.

- On rankings and outcomes geography: When asked which ranking makes Florida “number 1,” Sykes cited U.S. News & World Report. She also said some wage measures in the presentation look at graduates nationwide and that licensure data (for example, NCLEX for nurses) is used as an indicator for whether graduates remain and work in Florida, though statewide employment location data can be incomplete.

What the committee did: The subcommittee did not take any votes or adopt actions. Members thanked Sykes for the briefing, asked for follow‑up materials (lists of flagged programs, methodology details and the facilitator name used in strategic planning), and the chair adjourned the meeting.

Sources and attribution: Quotations and on-the-record answers in this report come from Emily Sykes, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, Board of Governors, and members of the Florida House Career and Workforce Subcommittee as recorded in the committee transcript.