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"The issue is how much more will it cost in terms of the additional overhead we will have to take on? We will definitely have to schedule a lot more classes," Rosenberg said. "Overall, I like the idea. But let us try to fit what works for our demographic. One size will not fit all."

Senate President Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who is the leading advocate for the Senate higher-education initiative (SB 2), said each school can develop its own block tuition plan and thus far he is "very encouraged" by the reports he is hearing.

"Different approaches are percolating through the process and so by the time it gets back to the Legislature (next year) we'll have a good plan," Negron said. "And ultimately, the plan could look different at the different universities."

Larry Robinson, interim president of Florida A&M University, said there are benefits to a block tuition plan, but warned that it could hurt overly ambitious students.

"You don't want to encourage students who might otherwise take a reasonable number of hours where they can succeed to bite off a little more than they can chew," he said.

Rather than reaping financial benefits, students who struggle with a class overload could end up being penalized by having to repeat classes or pay extra charges by ending up with "excess hours," Robinson said.

"Those are some of things you have to safeguard against," Robinson said.

John Hitt, president of the University of Central Florida --- the system's largest school, with 64,000 students --- also struck a note of caution on issues such as part-time students and the financial impact caused by a loss of tuition.

"I don't think block tuition has historically benefited urban universities particularly well, but I'm confident whatever the Legislature adopts, we'll make it work," he said.

Hitt also said if the block tuition plan dramatically increases the number of students seeking additional classes, it could stretch the classroom space on his campus.

"You don't have that much empty space. We would have some capacity problems," Hitt said.

New College of Florida is the one state university that essentially has already adopted a block-tuition plan.

Donal O'Shea, president of New College, said all of the 860 students on the Sarasota campus are full-time students and are charged for 16 credit hours per semester, with many taking heavier class loads.

He said he expects a smooth adjustment to the block tuition mandate if the New College plan can conform to a provision in the House's higher-education bill (HB 3) that would prohibit schools from charging students for more than 15 credit hours a semester.