The state will add another $75 million for a planned University of Florida graduate center in Jacksonville, bringing the total amount from state, city and private donors to more than $250 million for future courses and research in health care and financial technology.
The latest round of money for the UF graduate center was not part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s original budget but negotiations between the House and the Senate on the 2024-25 budget locked in the money.
House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, has been a powerful advocate for the graduate center. He said when the Legislature voted last year for the first $75 million dose of state money that UF will benefit from building relationships with companies in Jacksonville and the city will gain from UF’s teaching and research capabilities.
“It is, I think, transformational for the city,” he said last year.
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UF has not announced where it will build the campus, other than that it will be in the downtown area UF leaders have said they expect land for the graduate center will be donated.
The idea of building a UF grad center emerged a year ago and gained $75 million in support from the state Legislature, a $50 million commitment from the city of Jacksonville and about $60 million from private donors. The city’s commitment is spread over three years and will be completed in next year’s budget.
The cost of building the planned University of Florida graduate center has risen. Heading into this year’s legislative session, UF had not asked any lawmakers to file legislation for adding a second round of funding for the graduate center, whose impact supporters have compared to Mayo Clinic and the NFL coming to Jacksonville.
When the House and Senate each passed versions of the budget, the Senate did not include money for the UF graduate center but the House inserted $37.5 million for a UF “financial technology graduate education center in Jacksonville.”
That line item grew to $75 million in the final budget approved last Friday by the Legislature.