ATLANTA - Faced with up to $228 million in expected budget cuts, Georgia's colleges are looking at laying off employees, increasing student fees and revoking guaranteed tuition rates.
The state Board of Regents voted Wednesday to send its budget blueprint to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who will make final recommendations to state lawmakers on how to cope with an expected $1.6 billion statewide shortfall this fiscal year.
``We are trying to do this without compromising the quality of education we owe to our students,'' Chancellor Erroll B. Davis told the regents.
Like most state agencies and departments, the board is trying to figure out how to cut anywhere from 6 to 10 percent from its budget. But university system officials said it's too early to say if it will be necessary to take drastic measures that dig deeper into students' wallets or significantly reduce teaching staffs at campuses.
State lawmakers will hammer out a budget when they convene in January, although there has been some talk of holding a special session sooner to address the state's financial woes.
Perdue's heralded ``Fixed for Four'' tuition plan could fall victim to the cuts, Davis said. Under the plan adopted in 2006, students were guaranteed one tuition rate for four years at Georgia's public colleges and universities.
But the guarantee was contingent on colleges getting full funding, Davis said.
Perdue's spokesman Bert Brantley said the governor is hopeful he won't have to cut the program, but ``all options are on the table'' as officials try to combat the state's sluggish tax revenues.
The fixed tuition program was not popular with some college presidents, who depend on that money to make up for what the state doesn't provide each year.
``Our electricity is not 'Fixed for Four,' our water is not 'Fixed for Four,''' Georgia State President Carl Patton said. ``It's a very nice political concept, but it's not an economically viable concept.''
Some students aren't happy about the news that they could see tuition hikes.
``I don't think it's right for the Board of Regents to go back on its word,'' said Tamara Best, 19, a University of Georgia junior from Conyers who was in the first class of students to have fixed tuition. ``If you tell people one thing, you should stick to it, regardless of the circumstance.''
College officials say the cuts could also mean hiring freezes, layoffs and delays in campus construction across the state. Employees may have to pay more of their health insurance premiums, which would mean up to $800 a year taken out of their paychecks.
Other proposed cuts include fewer police officers, more part-time faculty in classrooms, no computer upgrades and fewer books and magazines in campus libraries.
The cuts are particularly painful after a $290 million reduction to the base budget in 2004 that the university system never recovered, University of Georgia President Michael Adams said.
``These cuts on top of that is what makes it more difficult,'' Adams said.
The cuts come at a time when the university system's enrollment is skyrocketing. Enrollment has increased by 20,000 students in the last three years, reaching a record high of 270,000 last year.
Officials expect to see close to 10,000 more students at colleges this fall.
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Tuesday
July 1st, 2025
8:32AM
