Student leader: Drastic cuts ‘a death knell
 for public education’

By Laura Diamond and Aaron Gould Sheinin
asheinin@ajc.com

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tuition at Georgia’s colleges could go up by as much as 35 percent this fall. On top of that, students could pay about $1,000 more in fees, under proposals discussed Wednesday to cut up to $600 million from the budget of the state’s colleges and universities.

In exchange for those higher bills, students will get less. Fewer professors. No Saturday or Sunday hours at some campus libraries. Some students will see their degree programs eliminated, forcing them to switch majors or transfer to another college. Others will need to add at least a year to their education because they won’t be able to get into all their classes.

These are just some of the proposed cuts to the University System of Georgia’s budget for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The proposals come as Georgia’s lawmakers try to fill a $1.1 billion budget hole.

The proposals are still only that — proposals. But some of them have shocked and terrified students.

“This is like a death knell for public education, and we’re not going to stand for it,” said Andy Coen, president of the student body at Southern Polytechnic State University. “You can’t say education is important to Georgia and then cut our funding. You can’t say you want me to graduate and then make cuts that will make it harder for me to get the classes I need.”

Chancellor on the hot seat

Lawmakers grilled Chancellor Erroll Davis about the proposed cuts Wednesday morning. Davis, in response to questions, presented information that included the tuition increase, higher student fees, consolidation of schools, salary cuts and shorter semesters.

Davis and legislators sparred, agreed and cajoled one another to avoid cuts to popular programs and to not balance the state budget on the backs of students and parents.

“It will be a balance of cuts and tuition increases and, again, we are hopeful that the cuts [sought by legislators] will be as small as possible because then we can keep tuition increases as small as possible,” Davis said after the two-hour hearing.

Lawmakers asked Davis and college presidents to detail how they would cut an additional $300 million from their budgets. That’s on top of the cuts Gov. Sonny Perdue had already recommended.

The information Davis presented differed from the proposals colleges submitted Monday. The colleges’ plans didn’t consider a tuition increase.

Georgia Tech would eliminate about 500 course sections, under its plan. Georgia State University floated closing its Brookhaven campus. Georgia Southern proposed eliminating its popular ROTC program. Up to 4,000 employees systemwide — including professors — could be laid off.

Some students in limbo

Many college leaders stressed it is still early in the budget process. But some students said they’re in limbo, waiting for a decision on what cuts colleges will actually implement.

Rebecca Reese planned to graduate in December from the nurse anesthetist program at Medical College of Georgia, but college officials placed her program on a list of those that might be eliminated. She has spent almost two years and about $60,000 toward her degree. The program is unique, she said, and can’t be found elsewhere in Georgia.

“I already had a job lined up, but I can’t work without a degree,” Reese said. “I have straight A’s. I worked hard. I held up my end of the bargain, and I want my degree. This is ridiculous.”

At the hearing, some lawmakers focused on salaries paid to highest-level professors and university presidents, which can exceed $500,000.

Davis said his presidents and top professors are not overpaid.

“They are not overpaid in comparison to their peers,” he told lawmakers. “This is an intellectual capital game, and you have to pay for intellectual capital.”

Student leaders said they plan to question the high salaries when they submit their own budget proposal March 15. Coen and his counterparts at other colleges have planned a large protest for that day at the Capitol. About 30 students attended a smaller protest at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Latest ideas trouble many

Students said they tolerated earlier cuts because of the recession. This time, they said, lawmakers are asking too much. Some said college leaders were also too harsh.

UGA’s proposal would eliminate about 540 non-contract instructors and decrease the number of course sections for students. The plan also suggested eliminating all 4-H programs and half the county extension offices and closing WUGA, a public radio station.

The 4-H recommendation was especially troubling for some lawmakers Wednesday.

“We made certain proposals to the chancellor and the regents,” said Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), the chairman of the Senate subcommittee charged with writing the higher education budget. “It did not include elimination of 4-H.”

Tim Burgess, UGA’s senior vice president for finance and administration, said Wednesday afternoon that the college has already absorbed about $100 million in state cuts over the past two years before being asked how it would handle an additional $60 million cut.

“When you dump this additional cut, it sort of breaks the back of this university,” Burgess said. “We had to look at our core mission, and it’s about instruction and research to support the 35,000 students that come here. In order to absorb this next large cut, we had to look at significant restructuring.”

Potential enrollment caps

The situation also worries prospective students.

Many colleges predict capping or decreasing the number of students they can admit because they can’t afford to hire additional faculty. UGA proposed admitting 500 fewer freshmen this coming fall. The college had planned to enroll about 4,800 freshmen. Georgia Tech, Georgia Gwinnett College and Kennesaw State University also proposed admitting fewer students.

These potential enrollment caps add another level of stress for high school seniors. Samantha Bond, a senior at Milton High in Fulton County, applied to UGA and Georgia Tech.

“I was already pretty scared about getting in, but this makes it terrifying,” Bond said. “I worked really hard for this. I feel like if I don’t get in, it will be a huge disappointment.”

Students who can afford to attend college out of state or at a private institution will do so if caps are implemented, speculated Susan Herbst, chief academic officer for the state University System. The system currently enrolls more than 300,000 students and is projected to grow to more than 400,000 over the next decade.

“My guess is a lot of students won’t go to college,” Herbst said. “If there are caps, somebody at some level won’t have a place to go.”

Georgia Gwinnett College proposed capping fall enrollment at 3,000 students even though it planned to grow to about 5,000 students.

The Lawrenceville institution opened in 2006 and doesn’t have as many areas to cut spending, President Daniel Kaufman said. The enrollment cap is a worst-case scenario, he said.

“We spent a lot of time getting people to know who we are,” Kaufman said. “Any restriction in our growth would be a major setback for us.”