Before tuition decision, students, parents wonder: How much more?

It's strife many of them have faced before. For the past several years, tuition costs have increased, with the highest rates paid by students at Georgia's top research institutions, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. A University of Georgia freshman starting in 2004 paid $4,291 for in-state tuition and fees, according to the College Board. By 2014, that had nearly doubled, to $8,094.

Ogbomoh, 20, is fortunate. Her parents started a college fund for her years ago, so they can pay the roughly $2,000 per semester that aren’t covered by HOPE scholarship dollars and a federal PELL grant she receives. “But I don’t want them to have to pay more than that, so I’m already looking at what scholarships are available if costs go up more,” she said.

But most of Ogbomoh’s friends aren’t so lucky. They have to rely more heavily on side jobs and student loans.

Student loan debt has skyrocketed to more than $1 trillion nationally. Seven in 10 graduating seniors carried student loans in 2013, with an average mix of public and private loan debt of $28,400, according to the Project on Student Debt.

In Georgia, about 61 percent of students have student loan debt, averaging just over $24,500.

Tuition increases have outpaced inflation, and have come in a struggling economy and as the state has cut education budgets and HOPE scholarships.That puts more of the financial burden on students and their families. Students’ deeper debt delays them from starting their lives and helping the economy, as they pay down debt rather than buying goods and services.

“For students, depending on the level of debt that they’ve had, it really can impact their future decisions, like their career choice, buying a car, buying a house — things we need them to do to move the economy forward,” said Claire Suggs, senior education policy analyst at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute..

Unfortunately, the tuition hikes in Georgia have come when families are less able to absorb the increases and median household incomes are still below pre-recession levels, she said.

State higher-education allocations have been cut about 28 percent between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2013, or just over $2,600 per Georgia college student, according to the latest report by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. Before the recession, state dollars paid about 75 percent of college expenses, and tuition covered the remaining 25 percent. But as revenues dropped and budgets shrank, the proportion has changed. Tuition now covers half the costs.

President Barack Obama has proposed a program intended to make college affordable and control student debt. In March, he visited Georgia Tech and laid out a plan to reform the student loan industry.

Georgia is home to 1.5 million federal student loan borrowers, accounting for $44.3 billion in outstanding debt, according to data provided by the White House.

“I believe that America is not a place where higher education is a privilege that is reserved for the few,” Obama said. “America needs to be a place where higher education has to be available for every single person who’s willing to strive for it, who’s willing to work for it.”

Azell Francis has been doing that work at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro for the past six years, completing a bachelor’s degree in undergraduate mechanical engineering, and now is a graduate student in the applied engineering program.

As an international student with limited financial aid options, Francis, who is from Trinidad and Tobago, chose the Statesboro college for its low cost and school-sponsored scholarships. What the undergraduate scholarships didn’t cover, Francis’ parents and siblings chipped in to pay.

“Nationally costs have been increasing and it’s something we’ve noticed,” said Francis, who is also the university’s student government president. “Overall at Georgia Southern, the hope would be to keep costs as affordable as possible, but you also have to recognize that (colleges) need to have the most advanced learning and resources to better prepare students for an easier transition into the workforce. There is a balance.”

To cut costs and increase efficiency, the University System has merged a dozen of its institutions. More online classes are being offered and plans are underway for online textbooks. The system has also offered the cheaper, in-state tuition cost for students in neighboring states at some colleges, mostly in South Georgia, where enrollment has dropped. The system has also changed its health care plan, making employees pay more of their health costs and moving retirees off the plan for coverage beyond Medicare.

State funding reductions have come at a cost. During the legislative session that just ended, University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby pleaded with lawmakers to include money for employee raises in the system's budget — an item at the top of his wish list for the past two years. Years of stagnant wages have made it difficult to retain and attract top faculty, Huckaby said. Lawmakers included money for small employee raises this year and next.

Single parent Glenda Shivers knows how tuition increases can affect families. Shivers has one daughter who graduated from Atlanta Metropolitan College and another from Banneker High School in College Park in May. Shivers herself is also enrolled in college online.

Her daughters have both applied to in-state and out-of-state public and private colleges, including Georgia State and Albany State universities.

“We are a single-income household. It will be a strain on my pocket,” she said. Her family’s higher education has been paid for through scholarships, grants and loans.

The cost could become a barrier to college for many families, Shivers said,. “Even if they are able to take out loans, those loans will have to be repaid.”