BUZZ
New College of Florida welcomed its largest student body in the school’s history last week, three years after a conservative overhaul of the institution’s governing board.
This week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that the public college surpassed its 1,000 enrollment goal for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Classes began Aug. 17 with 1,015 students – although “final official headcount won’t be determined until after a drop and add period for class registrations” in about two weeks, according to the report.
“New College is operating with exceptional momentum,” the college said in a statement to the newspaper. “Ultimately, this growth creates a more vibrant campus and positions New College students as a robust pipeline meeting both higher education and immediate workforce needs of the Sarasota community.”
A public liberal arts institution, New College never was a large school. However, those now leading the board have made enrollment expansion a goal.
The Campus Master Plan sets a 1,200 student enrollment goal for 2028 and 1,800 by 2034.
The newspaper did mention several criticisms in response to the enrollment milestone, including an alumnus who said the campus does not have enough student housing and a former administrator who said enrollment shouldn’t be leaders’ primary focus.
“Everyone focuses on enrollment numbers, but that is absolutely the wrong thing to focus on,” New College’s former vice president of strategy and special projects Nathan Allen told the Democrat. “Colleges can grow with their enrollment numbers and go bankrupt. It happens because it matters what kind of revenue you’re driving with those students.”
However, this summer, the college took over the University of South Florida’s Manatee-Sarasota campus, located only about a mile away, in accordance with a legislative change approved earlier this year, WUSF reports.
According to the Democrat, the 32-acre land transfer gives New College access to the USC “residence halls and a lab that’s now being built.”
A local business owner did have good things to say about New College expanding, according to the report:
Don Borden – owner of Four Winds Technology Group in Sarasota – says his company has had over a dozen interns, and that five New College alumni currently work for him.
“Keeping the talent and diverse skill sets here really helps the community because it keeps businesses and the economy vibrant,” he said.
Back in 2023, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis revamped the college’s Board of Trustees by appointing conservative scholars to help steer the school in a new direction.
Prior to the reforms, New College was described as being “deeply embedded with left-leaning progressive ideologies.”
DeSantis’s changes and subsequent ones by the new board have resulted in continued criticism over the past three years. A few employees also quit in protest.
However, even some progressive faculty and students at the school have admitted that the changes were not as bad as they expected and academic freedom is respected, The College Fix reported in January.
MORE: Progressives freaked after conservatives took over New College of Florida. Now, it’s doing great.
