Georgia students will see their college costs increase by 9 percent next fall, under new tuition and fee rates the state Board of Regents approved Tuesday.
The costs include a 3 percent increase in tuition, a figure students said is lower than they expected. That increase ranges from $36 a semester at two-year colleges to $106 a semester at research institutions such as the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.
Higher costs don't end with tuition. Many students will pay at least double in a special fee that currently ranges from $100 to $200 a semester, depending on the campus.
Students attending 29 colleges will pay an extra $100 a semester for the fee. Those attending Georgia Gwinnett College and the College of Coastal Georgia will pay $150 more a semester.
Students at UGA, Georgia State and Georgia Health Sciences University will pay an additional $250 a semester, while those enrolled at Tech will pay an extra $350 a semester. Tech’s increase is larger because it enrolls fewer students than other research institutions, said Usha Ramachandran, vice chancellor for fiscal affairs.
The new rates were an attempt to calm families’ fears over tuition in the wake of changes to the HOPE scholarship while still providing colleges with enough money to teach a record number of students, she said.
State colleges are set to lose $346 million in state funding with the fiscal year that begins July 1. Nearly all state agencies received less money because of the recession.
Regents Chairman Willis Potts said the board was determined to keep the net increase in the single-digits. Without the increase, he said, the system would close colleges or end programs.
"These are the realities of the economy of this state and nation in 2011," Potts said. "I wish it was different. I wish I could do better."
College presidents will still need to make cuts because the higher charges to students will cover only one-third of the state reduction.
UGA President Michael Adams said the school will maintain faculty but will have limited layoffs in the service sector. Georgia State instituted a voluntary retirement program, President Mark Becker said.
The higher fees allowed the system to use a smaller rise in tuition, Chancellor Erroll Davis said. The system wanted a minimal tuition increase because of changes to the HOPE scholarship, he said.
Starting in the fall the financially troubled scholarship will cover all tuition for only the most accomplished students, about 10 percent of recipients. For the rest the award will equal 90 percent of current rates and will not cover tuition increases.
The tuition increase means HOPE will cover about 87.4 percent of that cost, Ramachandran said. About 30 percent of the 311,000 students in the University System of Georgia receive the scholarship.
"We're raising tuition because we're trying to maintain the quality of the system," Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson said. Tech students will pay the largest net increase at $456 a semester.
Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, called the tuition and fee increase "overall fairly reasonable." Ehrhart, who heads the committee that oversees college budgets, is a frequent critic of the regents' spending but said he was pleased to see tuition increase by just 3 percent.
Ali Karmran, president of the student government association at Kennesaw State University, said students expected a bigger tuition increase.
Still, many are worried about affording the higher bill.
Daniella Bass, a junior at Georgia State University, said she might move back to her parents' house in Woodstock and commute to the Atlanta campus to save money. Bass, who gets the HOPE scholarship, called the fee increase "outrageous."
The regents created the special fee two years ago in response to state budget cuts. In January 2009, students paid $50 to $100 a semester, depending on the campus. The fee doubled the following year.
Sofia Lipko, a graduate student at Georgia State, may have to drop out because she can't afford the increases.
"With every increase, we are going further and further down a debt hole and most us won't be able to climb out," she said. "We are not privileged kids, but working-class students just trying to get by."
Davis said he understood the pressure students and families are under, but said Georgia's colleges are "still an excellent bargain." College presidents said they're raising additional money for needs-based and merit-based aid.
Some students won't pay more in tuition. About 45,000 students are exempt from tuition increases because they were grandfathered into a program that guaranteed the same rates for four years. All students will pay the higher fees, Ramachandran said.
"The fee increase levels the playing field and says we’re all in this together," Ramachandran said. "Considering all the challenges, this is reasonable. We were very mindful of the concerns and pressures from students, parents and the Legislature to keep tuition low because of HOPE."
Davis said the system can't operate like this in the long term.
Over the past decade, the system has lost about $1 billion in state funding. At the same time, enrollment grew by more than 100,000 students.
"Costs continue to go up and our support from the Legislature has continued to decline," Davis said. "If we are to maintain quality, we need to have more resources."
Tuition goes up
Students will pay more to get a college education this fall and for most of them HOPE will not cover all tuition. Tuition rates are per semester charges for Georgia residents. The scholarship amount is 90 percent of current (2010-11 academic year) rates. Here are rates for a sample of metro Atlanta colleges:
College … Tuition fall 2011 … Tuition fall 2010 … HOPE fall 2011
University of Georgia … $3,641 … $3,535 … $3,181.50
Georgia Tech … $3,641 … $3,535 … $3,181.50
Georgia State … $3,641 … $3,535 … $3,181.50
Southern Polytechnic … $2,564 … $2,489 … $2,240.10
Georgia Southern … $2,367 … $2,298 … $2,068.20
Kennesaw State … $2,367 … $2,298 … $2,068.20
University of West Georgia … $2,367 … $2,298 … $2,068.20
Clayton State … $2,201 … $2,137 … $1,923.30
Georgia Gwinnett … $1,648 … $1,600 … $1,440
Georgia Perimeter … $1,235 … $1,199 … $1,079.10
Source: University System of Georgia
Higher fees
Besides higher tuition, students also will pay more in a special fee that was started in 2009 to counter state budget cuts. Students at 29 colleges will see this fee increase by $100 a semester. Students at six other colleges will pay more:
Georgia Gwinnett College: $150
College of Coastal Georgia: $150
University of Georgia: $250
Georgia State University: $250
Georgia Health Sciences University: $250
Georgia Tech: $350
Source: University System of Georgia
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