SARASOTA-MANATEE — New College of Florida will acquire the Sarasota-Manatee campus of the University of South Florida next month. The acquisition includes a 32-acre property, approximately 2,000 students, and facilities that include a six-story residential hall and a $44 million student center.

The proposal for this transfer passed the Florida House of Representatives earlier this year. The Florida Senate did not initially take up the proposal, but it was reintroduced by a conference committee earlier this month and subsequently included in the final state budget. The state budget is awaiting Governor Ron DeSantis's signature.

USF programs at the Sarasota-Manatee campus will operate under a four-year teach-out period before closing. University of South Florida President Moez Limayem stated, "Students enrolled will have the opportunity to finish their USF degrees in Sarasota-Manatee without disruption." Limayem also said, "USF's strength is not a collection of buildings and land; our real strength has been, and always will be, our people."

Higher education consultant Lucie Lapovsky described the acquisition as detrimental to access to higher education for students due to the different programs and student groups served by USF Sarasota-Manatee compared to New College. "It's such a bad thing because USF Sarasota-Manatee was serving a different group of students than New College and had very different programs," Lapovsky said. She added, "It provides opportunities for students who graduated from local high schools, as well as older residents going back to college."

Student Lieutenant Governor Dennis Kukharenko indicated that students currently on campus wish for USF to remain in Sarasota-Manatee. "All students here on our campus truly would like for USF to stay here in our Sarasota-Manatee community," Kukharenko said. He added, "And removal of this campus really removes an opportunity to get a degree affordably."

Fentrice Driskell, leader of the Florida House Democratic caucus, said her position on the matter has not changed. "This is a governor who has expanded and tested the limits of executive power in ways that I don't think anybody would have ever foreseen, and he's been such a bully about all of these things," Driskell said. She also said, "New College is a vanity project, and he's been willing to spend whatever it takes to prop it up."

An efficiency study published in November found that it cost almost $500,000 to produce a degree at New College of Florida, while the next highest cost among Florida's 13 state universities and colleges, at Florida Polytechnic University, was just under $155,000. "It doesn't even pass the governor's own Doge [department of government efficiency] exercise," Driskell said.

New College of Florida president Richard Corcoran stated that New College is apolitical. Corcoran was appointed president of New College of Florida in 2024 and is a former speaker of the Florida House. He has a salary package of $1.2 million. In September, New College of Florida announced it was commissioning a statue of Charlie Kirk. Christopher Rufo was also appointed as a New College trustee by Governor DeSantis.