Lawmakers are cutting state appropriations and HOPE scholarship money for public college students at the same time they are maintaining relatively stable funding for private colleges.
For weeks, students at Georgia State, Kennesaw State and other public universities have been the face of protest as legislators reduced the benefits of the nationally lauded HOPE scholarship program.
But inside the Statehouse, a strong lobbying effort led by politically active private college presidents has worked to persuade lawmakers to maintain about $110 million in state funding for their colleges.
Private college officials say they save the state money by educating Georgia students who would otherwise fill up public classrooms. They also argue that taxpayer-supported medical schools and engineering scholarships at private colleges fill a need for more doctors and engineers.
But, some lawmakers and students wonder if state leadership — which includes prominent private school alumni and board members — is slighting public schools for private ones.
In the spending plan adopted by the House recently, the amount of scholarship money for public school students will drop 20 percent. Funding for private college HOPE scholarships will change little. In fact, HOPE awards for private college students will be higher than they were a year ago.
The Senate may take up its version of the budget this week.
Private college students also would receive $25 million in public grants to attend school next year, a decline of 1.8 percent, even though a recent state audit questioned whether the awards are a good investment. More than 20 percent of the grant money goes to students attending for-profit schools.
Georgia State University student Clara Green called the difference between the cuts for public and private schools “shocking.”
“It shows an obvious hypocrisy in all the cuts,” she said. “They say they care about education, but they only care about education for some.”
It’s no surprise to some lawmakers.
“It is clear the current political leadership in this state tilts toward private education over public education,” said Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta.
But Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, chairman of the House budget subcommittee on higher education, said all students need the state’s help.
“I don’t make any distinction between Georgia’s children, whether they decide to go to a private or public institution,” said Ehrhart, a leading proponent of k-12 private school vouchers. “I think we ought to support them.”
Familiar fight
Funding tensions between Georgia’s public and private colleges aren’t new.
The University System of Georgia fought to keep state funding from going to private medical schools in the early 1980s, losing a nasty battle that helped create a medical school at Mercer University. The Mercer and Morehouse schools of medicine are slated to receive about $30 million in state funding for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Georgia Health Sciences University, which is based in Augusta and runs an Athens campus with the University of Georgia, is the state’s only public medical school.
The fight over state funding and the lobbying efforts have grown more intense in recent years as state revenue declined and lawmakers cut budgets.
Public colleges got about $2 billion in state funding in fiscal 2009. The House budget provides $1.7 billion next year.
Public schools like UGA and Georgia Tech raised tuition to make up for the funding loss.
That put pressure on HOPE, which pays tuition and some book and fee money for public school students and $4,000 to private college students with at least a 3.0 GPA.
HOPE costs are outpacing lottery proceeds to pay for the program. But lawmakers last year raised the HOPE award from $3,500 to $4,000 for private college students.
With HOPE’s finances worsening, Gov. Nathan Deal just signed a law awarding full tuition only to students with the highest grades. For other eligible students, HOPE payments will vary yearly, depending on lottery revenue. This fall, scholarships will equal 90 percent of current tuition and grants for books and fees will end.
Private college students with higher GPAs will continue to get $4,000 scholarships. Other private college students will get $3,600 — a cut, but still $100 more than in 2009-10.
Besides HOPE, all Georgia students attending private colleges in-state receive a “tuition equalization grant.” The grant is about $750 this year and will be closer to $700 next year. But, with the number of recipients likely growing, the state will spend almost the same amount of money next year.
Supporters of TEG have long argued that the program saves the state the far-greater cost to educate private college students at UGA or Georgia State.
Many states give larger private college grants.
Influence questioned
But a recent state audit questioned whether TEG awards are enough to sway students’ decisions to attend private colleges that may cost $20,000, $30,000 or $40,000 a year.
For the program to break even this fiscal year, the grant would have had to persuade about 4,500 students to choose private colleges over public, according to the audit. But the report found no data to determine how the award influenced students’ decisions.
Lilburn’s Kimberly Reeves, who attends Agnes Scott College, said the state support makes college more affordable.
“If the point is to keep good students in Georgia, then why wouldn’t you give us the award?” she said. “It may not seem like a lot because I’m at a private school, but scholarships are important.”
William D. Underwood, president of Mercer University, said, “Without the HOPE scholarship, many of our students couldn’t afford to attend the university.”
Mercer’s estimated cost for undergraduates this year, including room and board: $43,000.
Besides HOPE, TEG and the medical school money, the state funds an engineering scholarship at Mercer University.
While lawmakers spend money on Mercer’s program, several of them questioned last fall why the state Board of Regents allowed UGA to expand its engineering degrees. Ehrhart wrote the chancellor to ask if there were any studies showing a need for more engineers.
UGA cited data from U.S. Bureau of Labor, Georgia Department of Labor and others to document a shortage. Engineering programs are already offered at UGA, Georgia Tech, Southern Polytechnic State University and Georgia Southern University.
Public money for private medical schools has raised fewer questions. The state ranks 40th nationally in the number of physicians per capita, and when the regents commissioned a 2008 study before expanding its medical education programs, the authors concluded the move would address only about half of that need.
Power struggle
Both public and private schools have launched strong lobbying efforts. The state pays the salaries of several public college lobbyists, while college presidents and a mix of in-house and outside lobbyists have made the case for private school funding.
“Whenever you are going through a period of budget reductions, I think there is a greater awareness of everyone of the need to communicate the value of your programs,” said Mercer’s Underwood. “I think that is certainly true in the case of private colleges and universities.”
Young Harris College President Cathy Cox, a former secretary of state, has been at the Capitol stumping for private colleges. She said about 65 percent of private college students come from families that earn less than $60,000 a year, and TEG and HOPE provide significant help.
“This is about accomplishing our ultimate goal of getting more Georgia students college-educated,” she said.
Probably the strongest voice for private schools at the Capitol comes from Mercer University. The 178-year-old school’s main campus is in Macon, and its statehouse political connections are historic and run deep.
Deal is the seventh Mercer graduate to serve as Georgia governor. The previous governor, Sonny Perdue, once sat on the medical school’s board of trustees. A state senator is a former longtime Mercer employee. The medical school board typically includes legislative leaders.
Unlike top officials at most public colleges, Mercer leaders are also big campaign donors. The president, chancellor and chief lobbyist and their families donated more than $110,000 to state candidates and political parties during the most recent two-year election cycle, according to campaign reports. All the top statehouse decision makers received contributions. By contrast, UGA President Michael Adams and his wife contributed $350 to candidates.
“They are the most politically active private college in the state,” said Sen. George Hooks, D-Americus, a longtime former Senate budget chairman. “They have been for years.”
Hooks supports funding for such schools. In particular, he said, Mercer and Morehouse have filled an important void in providing primary care physicians in rural areas and inner-city neighborhoods.
“Good private schools lend a great deal to the culture and welfare of the state,” he said.
With such strong lobbying, Hooks said, he’s not surprised private schools have maintained state funding. Neither is Orrock, who argued that Republicans leaders want more public money to flow to private schools.
“The leadership has demonstrated a bias toward private schools,” she said. “The numbers speak for themselves.”
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State funding
Where Tuition Equalization Grants (private colleges) go in fiscal year 2010:
College Awards Amount
Agnes Scott College 383 $287,125
American Intercontinental University* 1,330 $699,597
Andrew College 198 $139,450
Argosy University* 25 $11,750
Art Institute of Atlanta* 2,903 $1,828,347
Atlanta Christian College 691 $395,850
Bauder College* 971 $554,997
Berry College 1,364 $1,014,376
Brenau University 1,137 $775,223
Brewton-Parker College 581 $378,526
Clark Atlanta University 593 $418,250
Covenant College 428 $280,717
DeVry University* 2,073 $1,523,100
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 61 $35,050
Emmanuel College 493 $347,371
Emory University 1,769 $1,342,075
Georgia Military College 5,118 $3,219,088
Herzing College* 207 $156,050
LaGrange College 696 $486,792
Life University 229 $134,586
Mercer University 3,139 $2,151,538
Morehouse College 523 $380,300
Morris Brown College 53 $31,750
Oglethorpe University 610 $453,450
Paine College 608 $414,655
Piedmont College 1,132 $791,350
Reinhardt College 959 $701,050
Saint Leo University 496 $289,525
Savannah College of Art & Design 1,278 $794,165
Shorter College 2,660 $1,866,629
South University* 1,271 $653,814
Spelman University 428 $317,275
Thomas University 414 $282,181
Toccoa Falls College 393 $275,875
Truett-McConnell College 330 $236,875
Wesleyan College 244 $171,950
Young Harris College 642 $461,800
University of Tennessee - Chattanooga 19 $9,750
Source: Georgia Student Finance Commission, Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.
NOTE: * Denotes for-profit schools
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How we got the story
Reporters who have covered colleges, the HOPE scholarship and school funding for years attended HOPE legislative debates, committee hearings, budget hearings and protests and reviewed five years of budget documents. The reporters also interviewed public and private college students, private college presidents, public college officials, lawmakers and state scholarship officials.
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