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���� Despite a veto by Charlie Crist, Florida college students could be facing a tuition increase next semester. Back in the spring, lawmakers approved a five percent hike that was wiped out by the governor�s veto pen. But the tuition plan could be revived to help deal with a billion dollar budget shortfall.� Chris Casquejo talked with students and school leaders about the financial flip-flop.

Hear it here: Tuition Hikes�

���� Students at Florida State University are back in class, hitting the books. But come January, families of those who attend the state�s 11 universities may feel a hit in their checkbooks, as much as 5 percent.
���� �I think increasing tuition when we�re already here is completely unfair and that you would have an immense number of dropouts,” said FSU first-year student Laura Been.
���� Many students at FSU are on financial aid, but they still will feel the pain of a tuition hike.
���� �Financial aid probably won�t change,� said Carl Bellefleur, a first-year student.
���� That means he will have to spend more time trying to make money and less time to focus on getting good grades.
���� �I need to be focused on one thing, school.� I can�t work and go to school.� It would be too much things on my mind,� Bellefleur said.
���� But University of Florida President Bernie Machen says even a tuition hike won�t be enough.
���� �We are woefully short of faculty to teach students,� Machen said.
���� Governor Charlie Crist hopes universities can wait a year.
���� �I�d rather have them not go up.� I had talked to them about waiting until 08,� Crist said.
���� But lawmakers may not be able to wait. They have a billion dollar hole in the budget and raising tuition in January would be one small way to help bridge the gap.
���� Florida�s universities rank near the bottom in tuition rates nationally.