Audit prompts university to cut student waivers

FORT VALLEY - Just three weeks before fall classes start at Fort Valley State University, some students are waiting to find out if they will have to pay three times as much tuition as last year. <br> <br> For years, the university has granted hundreds of waivers a year to out-of-state students to make them eligible for in-state tuition. <br> <br> But state officials, concerned about the findings of an audit into the university&#39;s finances, notified the school in April that it could grant waivers to only two percent of the student population -- or about 41 of the roughly 2,500 students this year. <br> <br> In an April eighth letter to FVSU President Kofi Lomotey, University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas Meredith wrote he was very concerned over the seriousness of the audit&#39;s findings. <br> <br> During the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2001, the school had $646,404 in delinquent student accounts and had exceeded the number out-of-state tuition fee waivers allowed. <br> <br> This year, a Georgia resident enrolled for 12 semester hours of classes will pay $1,290 for tuition while nonresidents will pay $4,305, according to the university&#39;s business office. <br> <br> Lomotey said the university is ``working feverishly to come up with alternate funding. We&#39;re committed to not losing any continuing students because of this.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> He said most students are given waivers on a year-to-year basis, but 87 current students had been promised waivers for four years.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/8/191780