Six Mile Post

Inside November 16, 2004's Issue

-News-

Conference promotes leadership

Student emergency fund in need of recyclables

'Six Mile Post' visits Nashville for national media convention

Study Abroad to SCUBA dive in the Bahamas this spring

Regents reject mid-year tuition increase

By Jeff Denmon
[email protected]
Staff Writer

Students who were not prepared for the mid-semester tuition increase can breathe a little easier for now.

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia during its Oct. 12 meeting decided to turn down the mid-semester tuition increase, which had been proposed to help make up for the state's 5 percent cut to the University System's funding.

"They decided it was not a good thing to do during the middle of the year," said Dr. Randy Pierce, president of Georgia Highlands College.

The Board of Regents instead decided to tap into the University System of Georgia's health care program reserve until the deficit is satisfied and, according to Pierce, a tuition increase for fall 2005 will likely be announced sometime in April or May.

"It's only fair to assume there will be a tuition increase in the fall," said Pierce. "The question is how much, because, in order to make up the ground that we have lost, it would have to be pretty large."

Georgia Highlands College's $15 million budget is a combination of $10 million of state money and $5 million from tuition.

With an enrollment increase over the last three years of 65 percent, it would seem the state would be giving the college more money and actually making a drop in tuition.

However, due to the recession, the state has actually cut funding from all of the University System.

As state funding drops, student funding has to rise because these are Georgia Highlands College's only major monetary resources.

For the entire University System of Georgia, the cut amounted to $64.8 million.

"We were already into the budget cycle by July 1; we had already decided how we were going to spend it," said Pierce. "We were spending money that we already thought we had for 2005 when we needed to give back $434,000."

Georgia Highlands College Home Page

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