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Neighborhood Report

Campus party with a purpose

The University of Tampa celebrates 75 years of educating students through good times and bad.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published October 13, 2006

But his timing was terrible.

It was 1930, the start of the Great Depression, when people's need for food and shelter trumped their desire for a college degree. There was little chance of securing loans for a new university.

Spaulding pressed on anyway.

On Oct. 5, 1931, the junior college that would become the University of Tampa opened with 62 students. Classes were held in the basement of Hillsborough High School.

Seventy-five years later, nearly 5,400 students roam UT's downtown campus.

Residence halls, parking garages, classrooms and athletic facilities worth $150-million have been built in recent years, and another $50-million in projects are on the drawing board.

Not bad for a small private college that, just 12 years ago, was in danger of disappearing into Tampa's history books because of shrinking enrollment and a ballooning deficit.

"We were just kind of hanging by our fingernails," said former UT student Al Austin, a powerful Republican fundraiser who led the school's $83-million capital campaign. "Now they have a brilliant future."

Austin and others give much of the credit to UT president Ronald L. Vaughn. He took over in January 1995, when the school's woes seemed insurmountable.

"Ron turned the university around," Austin said. "It's a symbol of the city of Tampa - a campus that was kind of disheveled and dog-eared, and now it's a bright shining star."

* * *

UT has long been perceived as a refuge for rich kids who couldn't get into Ivy League or prestigious public schools. Yet the private school that celebrated its 75th anniversary last week frequently struggled to balance its own books.

Within two years of opening, Spaulding turned his tiny institution into Tampa's first four-year college, moving it from the Hillsborough High basement to the old Tampa Bay Hotel.

Henry B. Plant's once magnificent building was run-down and expensive to maintain. Bills piled up.

Spaulding quit in 1936, having grown weary of worrying about bills. Future presidents came and went, often hobbled by the school's many money problems.

Bruce Samson inherited a $1.4-million deficit when he assumed the presidency from Richard Cheshire in 1986. When Samson left a few years later, UT's finances were finally in the black.

Then came president David Ruffer, and within three years black turned back to red. Enrollment declined under Ruffer, and with it the tuition revenues that make up much of UT's operating budget.

To deal with a more than $2-million deficit, Ruffer laid off 19 faculty members, cut the pay of senior administrators and trimmed benefits for all employees.

The situation was so dire, there was talk of UT folding and the University of South Florida taking over the riverfront campus. Ruffer resigned at the end of 1994.

Within days trustees named Vaughn, then dean of the popular business college, as UT's 10th president.

His tasks were numerous and daunting: Boost enrollment, which was down to fewer than 1,500. Improve faculty morale. Deal with the budget deficit. Enhance academic programs. Make sure students are getting the advising and other support they need to graduate.

"We have focused on constantly getting better each year," said Vaughn, 60. "And when you do that for 12 years, you can look at an awful lot of progress."

So much progress, it's hard to believe UT's future was ever in doubt.

Under Vaughn's watch, the campus has grown from 60 acres to 100.

Enrollment has more than tripled, and graduation ceremonies regularly set records for degrees awarded.

With enrollment up, UT is using the revenue from students' nearly $20,000-a-year tuition to add new degree programs and hire additional faculty members. There are now more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including eight that were added this year.

Construction cranes dot the campus as workers finish residence halls and other projects.

UT's first capital campaign, launched with a goal of just $20-million, ended in 2004 having raised $83-million.

"It sort of validated our direction and our hopes and the credibility of who we are," Vaughn said.

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3403 or svansickler@sptimes.com.

At A GLANCE

1931 enrollment: 62

Fall 2006 enrollment: 5,300, 90 percent of them full time

Average SAT SCORE: 1,095, up from 958 in 1985

Average high school GPA: 3.25

Cost of attendance: $26,882, including $7,524 room and board, for full-time undergraduates taking 12 credits per semester

Percentage of students receiving financial aid: 87

2006 operating budget: $112-million, up from $28-million in 1996

1931 operating budget: $20,000, roughly $250,000 in today's dollars

Endowment: $27-million, compared to $6-million in 1995

New construction: More than $200-million completed or under way since 1998

Notable alumni: Former Gov. Bob Martinez; former Tampa mayor Dick A. Greco; Douglas B. "Pete" Peterson, former member of Congress and ambassador to Vietnam.

Source: University of Tampa, U.S. News & World Report

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 11:31:37]