ATHENS — Tuition rates at the University of Georiga are to increase by 9 percent for the next academic year. This increase was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) earlier today.
Grady Newsource reporter Cara Lynn Clarkson is looking into how this increase could affect students as well as why tuition continues to rise.
Some students are questioning the 9 percent tuition increase.
Clarkson spoke with a student who will personally pay that higher tuition next semester.
Mary Lynn Cole works at Publix to pay off the student loans she already has. She says there isn’t much time left for studying in between work and taking care of her 2-year-old daughter. Cole says this increase will put even more of a strain on her time and her budget. She says she wants to know how this extra cost will benefit her.
Twenty of the USG’s colleges and universities will keep their tuition increase down to 2.5 percent. There are 10 USG institutions that will have varying tuition rate increases for the specific needs of that university or college, including the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.
The University System of Georgia claims the institutions with higher tuitions require more investment to provide the academic programs, offerings and student services that are essential as leading and nationally-ranked research universities.
“To ensure we can continue to offer quality public higher education, we must continue to invest in our institutions,” said Chancellor Hank Huckaby. “We have carefully assessed the tuition rates for our institutions to make sure we are balancing the increasing costs of providing public higher education while keeping tuition and fees as affordable as possible.”
USG also worked to reduce the number of fee increases this year. There were 67 fee increases at USG institutions in Fiscal Year 2012. There are now 22 fee increases for Fiscal Year 2016.
In recent years, the number of approved mandatory fee increases from USG institutions dropped from 67 in Fiscal Year 2012 down to 22 this upcoming year, Fiscal Year 2016.
The cost of public higher education is still 50 percent tuition and 50 percent state support.
The 20 USG institutions with a tuition increase of 2.5 percent are:
- Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
- Albany State University
- Armstrong Atlantic State University
- Bainbridge State College
- Clayton State University
- College of Coastal Georgia
- Columbus State University
- Dalton State College
- Darton State College
- East Georgia State College
- Fort Valley State University
- Georgia Highlands College
- Georgia Perimeter College
- Georgia Southern University
- Georgia Southwestern State University
- Gordon State College
- Savannah State University
- South Georgia State College
- University of West Georgia
- Valdosta State University
Rates for the 10 USG institutions with varying tuition percentage increases are:
- Atlanta Metropolitan State College – 9 percent
- Georgia College & State University – 3 percent
- Georgia Gwinnett College – 8 percent
- Georgia Institute of Technology – 9 percent
- Georgia Regents University – 5.5 percent
- Georgia State University – 5.5 percent
- Kennesaw State University – 4.4 percent
- Middle Georgia State University – 9 percent
- University of Georgia – 9 percent
- University of North Georgia – 5 percent
The entire Board of Regent’s press release can be found here.
