New College of Florida  New College of Florida is a public liberal arts honors college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded as a private institution and is now an autonomous college of the State University System of Florida. It severed its ties with the University of South Florida in 2001 to become the eleventh independent school in the Florida State University System and adopted its current name: New College of Florida. New College was conceived during the late 1950s, and founded in 1960 as a private college by local civic leaders for academically talented students. Financial assistance was provided by the Board of Homeland Missions of the United Church of Christ. George F. Baughman served as the first president from 1961 to 1965. The school offers a liberal arts education valuing freedom of inquiry and the responsibility of individual students for their own education were to be implemented through a unique academic program. Open to students of all races, genders, and religious affiliations, New College opened its doors in 1964 to a premier class of 101 students. Faculty members included the historian and philosopher, Arnold J. Toynbee, who was lured out of retirement to join the charter faculty. By 1972, New College's ranks had swelled to more than 500 students and it had become known for its teaching-focused faculty, its unique courses and curricula, and its fiercely independent and hard-working students. As the 1970s progressed, although New College's academic program continued to mature, inflation threatened to undermine the economic viability of the institution. By 1975, the college was $3.9 million in debt and on the brink of insolvency, and the University of South Florida (USF) expressed interest in buying the land and facilities of the near-bankrupt college to establish a branch campus for the Sarasota and Bradenton area. In an unusual agreement, the New College Board of Trustees agreed to hand over the school's campus and other assets to the state, at the time valued at $8.5 million, in exchange for the state paying off its debts and agreeing to continue to operate the school as a separate unit within the USF. The agreement stated that New College was to receive the same funding, per-student, as other programs at USF. The former New College Board of Trustees became the New College Foundation, and was required to raise money privately to supplement the state funds to reach the total necessary to run New College, at the time about a third of New College's $2-million-a-year operating budget. Under the agreement, New College was re-christened the "New College of the University of South Florida".