Chancellor warns of tuition increases in light of budget cuts

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By Aaron Gould Sheinin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's college students should brace for more tuition increases in the coming months as the head of the state's university system warned Tuesday that their costs are almost surely to rise.

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Gov. Nathan Deal receives a warm welcome as he enters the hearing room for his presentation. State budget hearings opened Tuesday with Gov. Deal and the state economist, Kenneth Heaghney.

Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com Gov. Nathan Deal receives a warm welcome as he enters the hearing room for his presentation. State budget hearings opened Tuesday with Gov. Deal and the state economist, Kenneth Heaghney.

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Chancellor Erroll Davis told state budget writers Tuesday that it would take a 30 percent tuition increase to offset all of the expect cuts to higher education budgets, but Davis promised that wouldn't happen. Instead, Davis told a joint hearing of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, the system will look for other cuts and ways to increase efficiencies to lower the hit to students and families.

Still, Davis said students and parents will likely be paying more for college by fall.

"If I were a betting person, would I expect there to be a tuition increase?" Davis said. "I would say yes."

Davis was one of of several state leaders to appear before the joint committee Tuesday as lawmakers begin the process of cutting between $1.2 billion and $2 billion from the state budget that takes effect July 1. But lawmakers must also make cuts to the current state spending plan.

Gov. Nathan Deal, who opened Tuesday's hearing with remarks to the committee, said there are good economic indicators that show the effects of the recession are easing, but he warned that more difficult choices remain.

"There are some key factors and indicators consistent with showing businesses in Georgia are beginning to rebound from this recession," Deal said. "More people are working. Unemployment claims are running well below year-ago levels. Work in the private sector has increased. Wage and salary income has grown in each of the last two quarters."

That's the good news, he said. But employment is not yet rebounded enough, and revenue, while growing, is still well behind pre-recession levels.

The overall picture, Deal said, forces state leaders to "err on the side of caution."

Deal reviewed key points of his first executive budget, which he released last week. For the current fiscal year Deal lowered the revenue estimate by $27.5 million while also adding more money for K-12 schools. Most state agencies will have to eat 4 percent cuts over the next six months, although Deal noted Tuesday that agencies were already asked to hold 4 percent of their money.

"Hopefully that will be something that can be achieved without any significant pain," Deal said.

For 2012, Deal said he expects state revenue to be 3.75 percent higher than what was included in his proposal for the current fiscal year. But that growth will be eaten up quickly by the need to replace more than $1 billion in lost federal stimulus money.

To help make the budget balance, Deal is ordering state agencies to cut their budgets by an average of 7 percent.

Deal also reiterated his determination to resolve a growing crisis in lottery-funded HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten. The popular programs have been relying on reserves to meet demands as lottery revenue has failed to keep up with growth. But for 2012, Deal said he is committed to stopping the slide and said that the programs will not be able to spend more than what the lottery produces, meaning either cuts to the programs or changes in eligibility.

"Without action HOPE will be unable to fund its obligations in fiscal 2013," Deal said. "And as you know, we’ll be talking about fiscal 2013 next year."

Budget writers also heard from new state School Superintendent John Barge who said the state’s tougher math curriculum will hamper the state’s efforts to turn out more high school graduates.

“I believe our math standards are very good, but the delivery of those standards poses a challenge for many of our students,” he said. “It will, without a doubt, decrease the number of students who are able to graduate and, thus, negatively affect the state’s graduation rate.”

Barge also spoke of his support for a single diploma, but suggested there could be some changes.

“I do believe it’s good to have rigor for all students, but that doesn’t have to look the same for every student (as it currently does),” he said. “We have to make sure that we have a variety of pathways to the single diploma and I will be working on that as one of the top priorities of my administration.”