Dear BOG: please grade Corcoran’s business plan fairly
Dear Florida Board of Governors –
You’ve been asked by the Florida legislature to review Richard Corcoran’s business plan for New College of Florida to ensure the plan has “detailed descriptions of specific strategies” and will lead to “maintaining the high academic standards associated with the institution’s role as Florida’s designated Honors College” (2024 appropriations bill). This is required before the BOG can “submit budget amendments requesting release” of “$15,000,000 in nonrecurring funds” for New College (2024 appropriations bill).
The business plan presented to you by Richard Corcoran for the September 18th BOG meeting shows Corcoran already failing to meet the plan’s targets, and the proposed plan is lacking “detailed descriptions of specific strategies”. This proposed business plan must be evaluated in light of the poor performance from Richard Corcoran over the last 18 months as he oversaw the lowest average SATs in the history of New College, a historical drop in student retention, and a long run of last-minute and poorly executed initiatives.
The proposed plan is unsatisfactory in its current state, and the BOG should not approve the plan but instead require a more detailed and realistic plan from Richard Corcoran.
Corcoran is already failing to hit targets in the business plan
New College under Richard Corcoran is already failing to hit many of the targets defined in the proposed business plan, including:
The business plan calls for 225 FTIC students in Fall 2024, yet Corcoran did not achieve this: New College enrolled only 217 FTIC students for Fall 2024.
The business plan sets a goal for the average “ ACT score (or equivalent) will increase from 24 in 2024 to 28 in 2028”. Yet the ACT score in 2024 did not even manage to hit the target 24, which would have already been the lowest ACT score ever at New College: the actual Fall 2024 average ACT was only 23.
The business plan calls for FTIC retention rates between 85% and 88%, which is difficult to imagine given Corcoran’s historically low ~65% retention rate, which dropped in 2023 from the historical range of 75% to 85%.
The business plan calls for “Top Tier Housing”, yet Corcoran built rough temporary housing surrounded by mud pits which were not ready for students to move into when classes started, and students were STILL not living in them when this article was posted 3 weeks into the semester. This all in spite of Richard Corcoran having 18 months to prepare housing for his planned enrollment growth.
The rough temporary dorms recently built at New College of Florida, which were not ready for the start of the semester and continued to not be available as of this article's posting, which is 3 weeks into the semester.
The BOG should be alarmed that Corcoran is already failing to meet key metrics in his business plan: FTIC enrollment, average ACT, and retention rates as of Fall 2024 are lower than the projections offered in the proposed business plan, and have all dramatically declined since Corcoran began leading New College 18 months ago.
This incongruity between the proposed plan and actual rates demonstrates that the business plan is not ready to be approved in its current state, and raises broader concerns about Corcoran’s ability to execute on any plans put forth.
Poor past performance must be weighed
Beyond the declining metrics mentioned above, Richard Corcoran has a demonstrated record of failures over the last 18 months, including:
Doubling the cost of administration salaries, from $2.5 million in 2022 to $5 million in 2024.
Raising concerns about misuse of restricted donor funds to pay for sports and Corcoran’s large salary.
Spending tens of millions on surface improvements for show such as landscaping and painting and new sports fields yet somehow failing to fix a known leak in the library roof, leading to thousands of books being unceremoniously thrown into a dumpster and bringing negative press about the state of Florida’s higher ed system.
The lowest SAT and ACT scores in New College’s history.
The Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 classes, both under Corcoran’s leadership, had the lowest SAT scores in New College’s history.
The average SAT score for entering FTIC students dropped from 1243 to 1133, which reflects a drop from the 84th percentile to the 71st percentile. (source)
The average ACT score dropped from 26 in 2021 and 2022 to an average score of 23 in both 2023 and 2024, which reflects a drop from the 85th percentile to the 74th percentile. (source)
The lowest first year retention rate ever, dropping to 65% in 2023 from a previous norm of 75% to 85%. (source)
Enrolling no students in the newly announced “Ricketts Great Books Program” online program, and seemingly abandoning the program without any notice.
Hiring a Provost with no academic experience and no advanced degree.
Souring relations with his own foundation, including discussions of shutting down the New College Foundation.
The dramatic decline in SAT and ACT scores, as well as historically low retention rates, demonstrate that Richard Corcoran has not been successful at “maintaining the high academic standards associated with the institution’s role as Florida’s designated Honors College”.
The business plan lacks specifics
The business plan does not offer details for how the new sports programs will be funded, or how much E&G funding will continue to be used to pay for coaches. The growth in total enrollment at New College has been fueled by recruiting student athletes, which includes paying coaches’ salaries out of E&G funds by labeling coaches as recruiting and admissions expenses – a questionable practice by itself, but also a cost-sharing approach that does not scale in plan to grow to “24 sports teams in Fall 2028”.
There is similarly a vague commitment to “Increase endowment support by 2%”. One interpretation of this would be increasing the college funding from the endowment, which is currently ~$2.3MM a year – but 2% growth would only be an additional $46,000 per year, an insignificant sum given the hundreds of millions in costs this business plan asks the BOG to endorse to the legislature. The other interpretation would be to grow the endowment corpus (~$46MM) by 2%, which would be ~$950,000 per year, which would only yield an additional $32,000 per year in operating revenue (based on the current 3.5% spend rate of the New College Foundation). Neither interpretations amounts to any meaningful amount of private funds.
The plan makes a vague promise about building a “$50-$100 million East Campus Sports Complex” purportedly with private funds – but it is important to remember that these kinds of large dollar donations have thus far failed to materialize.
Overall, the plan’s lack of financial specifics leave the impression that it is asking the BOG to endorse a plan that requires millions of dollars in additional public funds, including at least $135MM in E&G dollars over the next 5 years. This is a staggering sum, especially given the lack of detail in the plan and the hit to core honors college metrics since Corcoran took over.
The business plan features vague promises and a lack of specifics, including:
There are no specifics for how Corcoran will “Attract Students with Broad Intellectual Curiosity”. The action steps involve dual enrollment with “area school districts” but it is not clear what this means, nor how such an approach would be able to maintain the high academic standards demanded of an honors college.
How will New College measure if students recruited are “of high character”?
The first 30% of the business plan is historical and geographic background unrelated to any of the action plans.
Where is funding for the “Top Tier Housing” coming from – is this related to the vague “P3 for new student housing” mentioned in the business plan?
How much is the PECO request for “1. Multi-Purpose Facility Supporting Enrollment Growth Phase II” – and how would not receiving this PECO request affect retention?
The business plan does not have “detailed descriptions of specific strategies” as required by the legislature. It instead makes unrealistically optimistic projections and promises, and the BOG should evaluate these vague projections and promises with Corcoran’s past performance in mind.
BOG members: please do your duty
The Florida legislature has charged the BOG with evaluating Richard Corcoran’s business plan, and any reasonable reading of the plan can see that the plan would not maintain the high academic standards demanded of an honors college. Further, any reasonable reading finds an alarming lack of specifics details, including:
How will average SATs and ACTs reverse course from their historic lows?
How will the expensive sports programs be funded?
When will “Top Tier Housing” be built, and how will it be funded?
How will historically low retention be increased to such high levels as promised in the business plan?
How can 5 year and 10 year projections be believed when the Fall 2024 FTIC enrollment and average ACT score are both below what the business plan projected?
The BOG needs to send the business plan back for more detailed plans and updated numbers that are more realistic. This is necessary for the BOG to fulfill its obligation to the legislature, and to the higher education system of Florida.
