The tuition increase at the University of Florida--one of 11 public universities in Florida to win the approval of the state's Board of Governors to tack a "tuition differential" of 7 percent onto an 8 percent increase already approved by the state legislature--comes in response to an unprecedented reduction of some $340 million in state spending for higher education. The total state education cut, including K-12 spending, proposed by Republican Governor Rick Scott amounted to more than $4.6 billion. The governor has argued that the funding reductions were necessary in the face of a more than $4 billion budget deficit he inherited. Despite the funding loss, the University of Florida is trying to put together a plan that will allow for a 3 percent raise for both faculty and staff . It is a plan that philosophy professor Tom Auxter, president of United Faculty of Florida, thinks the school almost has to embrace in order to maintain faculty recruitment and retention.