Legislative recap, 2026-2027
In our last post, we discussed the possible outcomes of the legislative session - so what happened with New College’s budget during the 2026 legislative session?
Now that the session is over, we know where things landed – and it’s not great for New College.
In the chart below, you can see that New College’s legislative funding for operations dropped from $62 million down to $37 million (source: HB 5001E). This is the funding categorized as E&G (education and general), and does not include revenues like tuition, housing, or foundation funding.
New College has had $10 million extra in recurring funding since the 2023 takeover, $5 million of which has been restricted to scholarships. Starting July 1 of 2026, that restriction is removed, so the full $10 million is unrestricted. The new language is:
From the funds in Specific Appropriation 152, $10,000,000 in recurring funds from the General Revenue Fund is provided to the New College of Florida for operational enhancements as determined by the President and Board of Trustees. (Source: HB 5001E)
New College will indeed take over the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, though not the programs, faculty, or students. This comes with $53 million in debt, which is on top of New College’s existing $17 million in debt. New College will need to pay ~$2 million per year for this new debt. Our estimates are that maintenance and utilities for the campus is approximately $3 million per year, meaning the campus transfer adds $5 million in new costs for New College.
Read NCA board member Bill Rosenberg’s view about the takeover of USF-SM: https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2026/06/03/new-college-usf-corcoran/90387095007/
How will Corcoran handle having the lowest amount of legislative support since the 2023 takeover? How will Corcoran handle a $25 million decrease in legislative funding compared to last year, funding that was going to salaries and scholarships and recurring operating costs?
We should learn more at the June 30, 2026 meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees – and hopefully there will finally be some meaningful discussion from the Trustees given this 40% cut in legislative funding – but here are some initial predictions:
The college will move as many students into the USF dorms as they can, and since housing payments become revenue for the school, that should add ~$2 million in revenue.
Corcoran might try and reduce costs even further for the current fiscal year to generate more carry forward funds – as of May, Corcoran was on-track to underspend his budget by ~$11 million, some/all of which could possibly be used next fiscal year.
Corcoran may emphasize they just have to get through this current fiscal year, and hope for a better outcome next legislative cycle – though without DeSantis, who orchestrated the New College takeover.
The college could push the Foundation to dip into its endowment, which would be unfortunate.
Corcoran could suggest a reduced administrative budget, which he has massively ballooned since taking over.
Corcoran could reduce scholarship aid, but we’d expect that to reduce overall enrollment since New College relies so heavily on scholarship-driven athletic recruitment.
Corcoran needs to build more student housing, but will again delay that because he will want to point to acquiring the USF campus and its dorms (which he was already 75% filling).
We keep hearing rumblings that Corcoran might announce he is leaving this year given his political patron is leaving office, he isn’t being given a blank check from the legislature on spending, and given the lack of growth is becoming more clear – remember that Corcoran only added 22 more undergraduates in 2025-2026 compared to the previous school year.
Fingers crossed.
