Georgia State’s superstar evolution comes with a cost

Until recently a commuter college, Georgia State University has gone from academic stepchild to superstar with more than 250 degree programs, a new high-tech science center, swanky dorms — even a football team playing the likes of the University of Alabama.

But students are finding it’s not cheap to be a research institution in the same league as the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech.

Total spending at Georgia State increased by 29 percent since 2007 to $686 million this year, a period that covers the Great Recession.

State government used to cover much of the expense, but funding for the University System of Georgia and other state agencies has been cut by millions. So students are picking up more of the financial burden to transform Georgia State.

In Thursday's newspaper, the AJC publishes the fifth in a six-part series on how the university system spends its money. It's a story you'll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper's iPad app. Subscribe today.