- FAMU's performance-based score saw a drop from 78 to 72 in the Board of Governors annual report.
- If this decrease continues for another year, millions of dollars of the university's funding from the state could be affected.
- Watch now to see how Florida State University fared in this year's scoring.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The highest of seven hills — seeing a drop in performance numbers, according to the Florida Board of Governors.
I'm Alberto Camargo, your College Town neighborhood reporter, at Florida A&M University.
I'm finding out what these numbers mean, and how they could the university's money each year.
The Florida Board of Governors grades all 12 public universities in the state through performance metrics.
I took a look at the numbers myself.
Some of the metrics included are four-year graduation rates and the average salary of alumni — one year after graduation.
FAMU got a 72 overall score for 2024, six points down from last year's overall.
FAMU must improve its numbers for 2025.
If not, FAMU will only get 100% of the money allocated to it in the state budget after presenting a student success plan to the Board of Governors.
For 2024, that number is 28 million dollars.
On top of that, if FAMU's score drops below 70, the student success plan might only get FAMU half of their budget allocation.
"We can't just be mediocre. Especially a school as prideful as FAMU — we can't just be mediocre.
I spoke with students like Djonucci St. Juste who say this should be a wake-up call to the university.
"I feel like if you get more people who love their job, love what they do and are willing to nurture the next generation, I feel like stats will — instead of going up and down, up and down, it will go up up up and rise higher and higher."
Yet other students I spoke with say the score doesn't tell the whole story.
"You can — but you can't really base everything off numbers. You have to be here to experience it and my experience has been good so far."
I reached out to FAMU to ask how the school plans to improve.
I have not heard back yet.
Florida State University's score also dropped from 92 to 89, but the university remains in the top three across the state.
In a statement, president Richard McCullough said, "I am proud of the achievements of our students, faculty and staff who all contribute to Florida State University being one of the top-performing institutions in the state. Our high scores in the performance-based funding metrics reflect our commitment to academic excellence, student success, and research impact."
Among the 12 public universities, FAMU ranks 10th and FSU is tied for third.
At FAMU, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
