Florida to study return on investment of Women/Gender Studies programs

One lawmaker warned the effort is “trying to stage” an argument to get rid of the programs.

by Jay Waagmeester, for Florida Phoenix

The state Board of Governors plans to commission a study of the economic return from Women- and Gender-Studies programs at Florida’s public universities. One lawmaker warned the effort is “trying to stage” an argument to get rid of the programs.

The governors, who oversee the State University System, included such programs at specific universities along with more practically oriented fields of study in Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Finance, and Nursing, according to a request for proposals issued this month.

The idea is to evaluate operational costs, student outcomes, and return on investment for the five programs across the system

Credit to North Carolina

There is no state requirement for the Board of Governors to study the return on investment of its programs. When asked what prompted the pilot, the board pointed to the University of North Carolina, saying that system found “helpful” its recent Deloitte-commissioned study of the ROI of all of its programs.

Chancellor Ray Rodrigues told the governors during a September meeting that the state university system initially sought to ask the Legislature to fund an ROI study for all degrees across the system but switched course to do a pilot with a small pool of programs.

“If we like what comes out of that, then we will come back next session with a different ask,” Rodrigues said during the meeting at the University of South Florida.

The State University System reiterated in an email to the Phoenix that the study is a pilot, and did not answer whether the selection of the programs was influenced by initiatives from Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers to eliminate Women/Gender Studies programs.

Revisiting eliminating the programs

Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando, called the proposed studies “a bogus calculation” to be released in time for lawmakers to use as economic justification for eliminating the Women/Gender Studies programs. The board’s request for proposal targets March 31 for the studies to be completed, just before the halfway mark of the 2025 legislative session.

“The timing for it, too, from my lens, seems to be designed for there to be a bogus ROI calculation that would lead to the release of some sort of report by the middle of legislative session, which they would then use to eliminate funding for Women and Gender studies,” Eskamani told the Phoenix.

In 2023, lawmakers proposed doing just that but dropped the effort after Eskamani argued that eliminating the programs based on their content would risk violating the First Amendment. Now the board is “trying to stage themselves” to make an economic argument instead,” she said.

“What the BOG is trying to do is give another reason to remove this program by saying, ‘Economically it doesn’t make sense,’” Eskamani said.

“So, this is what is really scary, because they knew they couldn’t remove these programs just based on speech. … So now they’re trying to make up an argument that, ‘Ooh no, there’s an economic reason why we don’t like them. We don’t care about what the programs teach, we just don’t see the economic value of them anymore.’”

Rodrigues’ comments were part of a larger discussion preparing for a future with less generous funding for higher education, and after governors raised concerns about New College of Florida’s per-student cost-to-educate ratio. 

The details

The studies are expected to include:

“A detailed correlation between degree of study and directly related career roles and associate expected starting compensation, as well as expected career earnings for students upon compilation of those programs.”“A detailed ROI for each program.”“ROI for state funding expenditures.”“ROI for student funding expenditures.”

Programs going under the microscope include:

Computer Science at Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Polytechnic University, New College of Florida, University of North Florida, and University of West Florida.

Civil Engineering at Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida Polytechnic University, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, and University of South Florida.

Finance at Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.

Nursing at Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.

Women/Gender Studies at Florida International University, University of Florida, and University of South Florida.

According to SUS data, nearly 21,000 students were enrolled in computer and information sciences and support services bachelor’s programs during the fall 2023 semester.

That same semester, 224 students in the system were pursuing a bachelor’s in area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies programs at Florida’s public institutions.

The state is partnering with Burning Glass Institute to conduct the pilot program, the same education research organization that partnered with North Carolina.

“Colleges and universities too often fail to align their programs with labor market demand, leading to disappointing outcomes for graduates and poor returns on education and training investments for students and the public alike,” the institute states on its website.

‘Not fair to the taxpayer’

DeSantis took aim at Women/Gender Studies programs while campaigning in Iowa to be the GOP presidential nominee.

“It’s not fair to say the taxpayer” should pay for student loans, specifically mentioning “truck drivers’” tax dollars paying “for someone’s degree in gender studies,” while addressing student loan forgiveness, DeSantis told Iowa voters, Florida Politics reported.

That argument goes hand-in-hand with the governor’s argument that schools should have to back student loans.

Eskamani said it is “fiscally irresponsible” to commission a study of the ROI of programs “that really should not be compared to one another in the first place,” adding that the system already has metrics in place, as do accreditors and organizations compiling national rankings.

“From a purely practical perspective, this comparison is politically motivated,” Eskamani said, adding that comparing engineering to Women/Gender Studies is “apples to oranges,” and it “seems like a bogus evaluation to paint programs within the humanities, like Women and Gender Studies, as not being valuable to civil society and not being valuable to higher education.”

Eskamani’s resume includes a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and a graduate certificate in Gender Studies she earned while pursuing her PhD in Public Affairs from UCF.         

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