Leaders of Georgia’s technical college system will recommend a $341.4 million spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, a slight increase over the current budget.
The fiscal 2017 recommendation, released Thursday during a monthly meeting of the system’s board, is about $1.4 million higher than the system’s current operating budget of about $339.9 million.
The budget includes no tuition or fee increases for students, said Gretchen Corbin, commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia.
Despite flush state coffers, Gov. Nathan Deal again directed state agencies to keep their fiscal 2017 budget requests the same as the current year unless there is a major need, because rising costs in Medicaid, education and state pensions will account for a large portion of the state budget.
The slight increase in the tech system’s request reflects new buildings — such as the North Fulton campus of Gwinnett Technical College, which opens next year, and a bioscience training center, set for a grand opening in Covington next week.
The tech college system's budget recommendation also includes about $108.8 million in construction funds for various systemwide and individual college projects. About $15 million is requested for facility upgrades throughout the system. The largest portion of construction funds, more than $48 million, would go toward building a new Hall County campus of Lanier Technical College. The current state budget includes $10 million for the relocation project.
The tech system operates 22 colleges, and enrolls almost 136,000 students in technical education programs. About 44,200 students are enrolled in adult education, such as the GED program, and more than 73,500 people have been trained through the QuickStart workforce training program operated through the system.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
