While colleges across the nation are coping with the recession, public universities in Florida, a state with finances that resemble a Ponzi scheme, have spent years doing without. The recession hit Florida early, and in a big way. Without an income tax, state government has long depended on property and sales taxes. As real estate and tourism have…

The General Education Board has, since its foundation in 1902, to July 1, 1924; appropriated $116,727,895.38 for various phases of educational endeavor. Of this sum, $59,313,857.68 was paid to or set aside for colleges and other institutions for whites, $6,902,813.91 for educational institutions for negroes; and $999,207.09 for miscellaneous…