Florida Polytechnic anti-hazing program faulted by state auditors

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - College hazing can be deadly, and programs to combat it can be costly, but one local university's attempt to educate students on its dangers seems to have wasted lots of taxpayer money.

State auditors found that Florida Polytechnic in Lakeland spent more than $2 million tax dollars on a course that served only 184 students.

That's $12,000 per student.

In the meantime, a similar course done at the University of Central Florida cost only $14 per student.

The state legislature put up $3 million between 2015 and 2016 for Florida Poly to design an anti-hazing course, with the help of a contractor, for all freshmen across the state.

The state audit said the school kept poor records of how they attracted freshmen to take the course.

The state auditor said Florida Poly did not provide evidence that the contractor was the best value.

The school has returned $800,000 to the state and kept $500,000 for administrative costs, but the auditor's report said university records were not provided to support the need for those costs.

The school responded with a statement Friday, saying they "take the role as good stewards of state dollars very seriously. The anti-hazing initiative was clearly not as effective as originally planned. As a result, we canceled the service provider contract."

The audit did not say why UCF was asked to build a similar program or why they were able to enroll nearly 70,000 students.