Georgia's college students see the signs of budget cuts all over their campuses.

Classrooms are crammed with students. Some students are postponing graduation because they can't get all their required courses. Others have trouble meeting with professors because they're teaching more classes or aren't on campus during required furlough days.

Some students even pay twice as much in a special fee this semester, an expense ranging from $100 to $200 a semester, depending on the college.

"We're frustrated," said Ryan Haney, a Georgia State University graduate student who has organized protests over the fee increase and other cuts. "We've lived through furloughs and got annoyed when we couldn't reach professors. And now we're paying more for less services. It's enough already."

Leaders at several of the state's public colleges warn class sizes will get larger because they don't have the money to hire faculty to teach Georgia's growing enrollment, which now numbers more than 300,000 students. They can't afford to replace outdated technology. They worry about capping enrollment.

"We're at 35,000 and that is where we are going to be for the foreseeable future," University of Georgia President Michael Adams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The maxed enrollment has a lot to do with infrastructure at the state's largest college but Adams said he can't admit more students when he is unable to hire faculty and staff.

UGA received about $442 million from the state in 2002, but just $431 million this fiscal year. The college's enrollment has increased by about 2,500 students since 2002, but it has 75 fewer full-time faculty positions. As a result, some students in popular degree areas such as public health, public and international affairs and family and consumer sciences will need an additional six months before they can graduate, Adams said.

Daniel Papp, the president of Kennesaw State University, floated the possibility of an enrollment cap at his institution, which enrolls more than 22,000 students.

"We are constrained by the number of seats in the room," Papp said. "We're letting class sizes grow until you can't grow anymore. I'm talking about students sitting on the floor."

These packed classes come as the state has cut about $176 million from the University System of Georgia's nearly $2.08-billion budget as Georgia suffers an historic decline in revenue. Those cuts include system-wide mandatory furloughs for nearly all employees and major health insurance changes, with employees now paying 30 percent of the cost. Individual institutions also laid off workers, eliminated course sections and increased class sizes.

The governor's office said all agencies experienced funding cuts because of the recession, but each department had flexibility on how to implement them.

The State Board of Regents, which oversees 35 public colleges, required colleges to furlough employees for six days to save money. Georgia State University implemented eight days worth of furloughs, saving about $800,000 each day, spokeswoman Andrea Jones said.

At Georgia Tech, class sizes have grown even as students have fewer course sections to choose from. Over the past four years, the number of freshmen and sophomore course sections declined by 8 percent from 703 to 649, according to officials. The average enrollment for these courses increased by about 10 percent from about 48 students to about 53 students.

Kennesaw State students also have larger classes, Papp said.

"Some students won't be impacted by this," Papp said. "For students who need personalized attention from our faculty, it could be a very different situation. It could be the difference between staying in school or not staying in school. The bottom line is the quality of education goes down when you don’t get the same the faculty time."

Katie Barlow, president of the student government association at UGA, said students decided to attend the college because they want access to top-notch faculty. Many students, she said, worry UGA will lose these professors to other colleges.

UGA made about 160 counteroffers last year to keep faculty from taking other jobs, Adams said. It is getting hard to retain top faculty who will soon be in a third year of no raises, he said. Still, Adams announced in January the college would use about $4 million in budget savings to search for 24 new faculty members.

Adams stressed he's just stating the case at UGA and not whining. But citing an example, he said it would cost about $15 million to replace an outdated registration system that crashed when a large number of students used it in January.

"We have no way of dealing with something of that magnitude," Adams said.

An additional concern on the minds of college presidents and students is whether the State Board of Regents will increase tuition.

The regents had a policy that guaranteed incoming freshmen the same tuition for four years but ended that policy in April because of state budget cuts. While the state is honoring the policy for students who were enrolled when the program was in effect, current freshmen and incoming students could see tuition rise each year.

Many expect tuition to go up this coming year as the state continues to cut spending. A decision will be made this spring and any increase will depend on how much money the state allocates, spokesman John Millsaps said. The Legislature is currently discussing the 2011 budget.

Students, Haney said, are tired of paying more without receiving any benefits.

Students shared supplies during a recent visit to an anatomy and physiology class at Kennesaw State. If the tools they needed were being used by a different group, students worked on another part of the lab.

The room was so packed, students contorted their bodies as they walked up and down the aisles. One student almost knocked over a skeleton when he leaned back too far.

Senior John Woolsey said he's used to cramped labs and packed lecture halls. He once waited about a year and half to get into a class he needed. It was a prerequisite for other courses and forced him to delay his degree. He won’t graduate until December.

His lab partner, Susan Ricks, also delayed graduation until December because she couldn’t get all her courses.

“It just takes a long time, longer than you expect,” Ricks said. “It’s frustrating and it gets expensive. At least I’ll be getting out before its gets worse.”

ENROLLMENT UP

Enrollment at Georgia’s public colleges continues to increase even though institutions are facing drastic budget cuts from the state because of the recession. The chancellor’s office predicted enrollment to top 400,000 students within the next decade. Here’s a look at the growing number of students attending some of Georgia’s campuses:

Source: University System of Georgia, various fall enrollment reports.