Machen is not happy that the average family income for an incoming freshman is over 100K and he wants more kids from "poor" families.

Bernie addressed the fee issue for about 30 minutes at the UF Accounting Conference in October, and not once during his speech, or during the Q&A after did he say anything remotely like this.  Nor have I seen this sentiment echoed by him in any of his published discussions on the matter.  If you have a link to his expression of this opinion I would very much like to read it.  In fact, this quote from a Gainesville Sun articles seems to directly contradict your assertion:

" But Scott Kittel, Crist's education adviser, said Crist considers it a form of tuition. His proposed $3.5-billion budget for state universities next year freezes tuition for in-state undergraduates because he wants to help families afford college. Machen was traveling Thursday and could not be reached."
 

The opposition to Bernie's proposal is clearly using your arguments against the proposed fee by saying it makes UF less affordable.

Now if you are a store owner in Gainesville - how do you feel about this? If you like all those kids with disposable income enjoy it now, it won't last!

 Sorry, but that is just scare tactics based on an invalid assumption.

Now just because I had the means and the good sense to actaully save for my child's education AND I have a job and my husband has a job and we both went to college - then my son is "unatractive" all of a sudden to UF and he should be FORCED to attend a private college JUST BECAUSE HE CAN????? Forget that we spent a FREAKIN fortune to see that he got the best education we could provide for him so that he would be ready for college, he is not as important or "wanted" as a kid who comes from an impoverished background who has not had the educational opportunities - who is to say the kid who has not had the educational opportunities has the ability to contribute as much as a kid who does have such a background? So all things being equal GPA and SATs they hide behind the holistic application to weed out not an ethnic group, but a socio-economic group! I say make it NEED BLIND/RACE BLIND/ECONOMIC BACKGROUND blind. Hard I know --- if her name is Liticia you might be able to draw conclusions... if his high school is $25K a year you might be able to draw conclusions...

I think you are somehow confusing affirmative action with the proposed fee.  I don't see the link.

Anyway it is a bummer to think UF does not want my son because in fact I have educated him and provided for him and given him opportunities to travel and experience robotics and athletic competitions.

How and why would the proposed fee disqualify those experiences as a criteria for selection?  Again, I have never seen or heard any such assertion, and I see no link at all.

Oh well he doesn't want to go to UF and in all honesty I think there are better ACADEMIC situations for him, but it still stings to think with all he has to offer UF doesn't want him.

I don't see where the proposed fee has any bearing on whether UF will admit your child or not. 

Oh and if you can afford the $500 per semester you should be FORCED to pay it in addition to whatever you have had the means and good sense to put away and if you can't then that is ok you don't have to.... oh and that promise from Florida Pre Paid and Bright Futures that you tuition would be paid for, well you didn't really think we meant it did you? Yet he is worried about the kids who can't wait to hear about financial aid???????

From the Gainesville Sun: "The board also wants the authority to alter its prepaid plan so families enrolling in the future can include the $500-per-semester fee in their payment contracts."

UF has FAR more qualified applicants than slots for admission.  If you think back to Dr. Denslow's ECO 1 class, you may remember that when demand is greater than supply, price increases until supply and demand come into balance.  That is not currently being allowed, and it is hurting UF the most, because UF is in the greatest demand of any academic institution in this state.  Because it is the best academic institution in this state, and it is one of the best public universities in the nation.  You seem to question that for some reason, even though there is a great deal of evidence to suggest it is absolutely correct.  And that evidence has been posted to this board on many occasions in the past.

UPenn uses ED to fill it classes (as high as 60%) and they think it is GREAT to have a class full of kids who really want to be there!

Why would someone move to Gainesville and enroll at the University of Florida if they did not want to be there?  Sorry, but I don't get that at all.

Oh and to be brutally honest - the facts are that UF is NOT all that. The classes are crowded (1,000 less Freshmen next year will help that I agree), there should be several hundred added to the faculty, the dorms ALL need to be overhauled in the manner of Hume, the placement center's record is just short of abysmal.

And how do you propose UF pays for needed improvements in the current climate of a tuition freeze?  To wit:  "Machen wants to vault UF into the elite top 10 class of public universities, a group that now includes institutions such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He says the fee would improve the quality of UF's undergraduate programs by generating about $36-million each year enough to hire 200 additional professors and 100 academic counselors."

 Look I love UF, but the MAIN attraction to MANY is the fact that it is CHEAP and has great athletic programs and for many Florida kids it is a family tradition... it is not for the quality of the education

I can 't argue with the fact that many choose to attend UF because it is cheap and has great athletic programs and for many kids from all over it is a family tradition.  That played a factor in my decision to attend UF.  But to say that the quality of the education  at UF doesn't factor into the decision process for "MANY" kids seems absurd to me.  Given the very high academic qualifications necessary for admission to UF, I find it hard to believe that kids who meet such criteria are not concerned about the quality of their education.  I would make exactly the opposite assertion.  That such high acedemic achievers are very concerned about the quality of their education.  And that they are very smart kids who put time and effort into their decision making process.  And as a result of that time and effort, they have decided to attend one of the best public universities in the United States.  Can UF be better?  Yes.  Can UF be an elite public institution?  Yes, and we are well on our way.  How do we get there?  By investing in the future of our university.

Here is what a self proclaimed Gator Hater has to say about the fee:

"King, an FSU graduate, said he isn't comfortable with the UF fee because it gives one university privilege over the others. ''I'm not so sure that in a state that has 11 universities, I want to say, 'Gosh you're the flagship, so you deserve to charge more because you're better.' I don't buy into that.''

And yet, the chancellor of Florida's 11 public universities supports the fee, as does the board that oversees those universities.

UF is the flagship university of the state of Florida!  FSU grads DESPISE the idea of UF collecting this fee and further distancing itself from FSU and the other state universities!  Bernie is RIGHT ON THE MARK with this proposal.  If my kids are qualified enough and privileged enough to earn acceptance at UF, then I will GLADLY pay the fee.  Because I am a GATOR and I want what is best for my university.

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070210/LOCAL/70210002&SearchID=73272081559202