Chancellor tells budget writers that tuition and fee increases are resulting in more college dropouts

University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby, speaking before a joint budget hearing to members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, said this week that continuing increases in tuition and fees have caused as many as 700 students to drop out of classes at some of the state's larger campuses.

The chancellor told lawmakers the University System would begin to slow down the pace of these increases. In his budget presentation, he noted the Board of Regents has approved several tuition increases in recent years to compensate in part for major reductions in the funding budgeted by the legislature for higher education. He said the University System has seen its budget reduced by about $1 billion over the past four years.

To save money, the Regents recently approved a recommendation to consolidate eight of the state's public colleges into four institutions.

To offset state budget cuts, tuition was increased and now those increases are causing students to drop out of college.  Georgia's legislators really needs to get their act together on Pre-K-16 education.  Knee jerk policies, political grandstanding, unfunded mandates and lack of vision continues to a negative impact on students across Georgia.

William