The Georgia Board of Regents approved another tuition hike on Tuesday, the 4th consecutive year the state has done so. The state’s flagship research institutions, UGA and Georgia Tech, will see tuition jump a whopping 9%, while most other colleges and universities in the state will have their tuition increase more modestly, at rates between 5.5 and 2.5%.
The jump in tuition is an unfortunate side effect of budget cuts, which began in 2008 with the economic recession. As Governor Nathan Deal said last year, “Since spending on education has always been the largest part of our state budget, representing over half of all spending, it was to be expected that it would be reduced during these hard times”. State funding for higher education, while increasing, is still below 2008 levels, ($1.9 billion in 2015, down from $2.1 billion in 2008).
Indeed, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Georgia ranked second in the nation in terms of percent increase in average tuition per student between 2008 and 2014, and seventh in terms of actual tuition increase.
As the percentage of students attending college continues to rise, so must the state’s commitment to making college affordable. Student loan debts have become a major issue on the national scene, and with tuition continuing to rise, (sometimes drastically) that topic doesn’t appear likely to disappear anytime soon.
The Governor has made it a point of emphasis to increase graduates of both secondary and post-secondary education, pointing to the benefits that an educated workforce provide to the state’s economy. We all know the work Deal has done to make Georgia one of the nation’s most inviting business environments, but an often overlooked component of bringing in new business is the availability of a skilled base of potential employees. If the state doesn’t continue in its commitment to make higher education cheaper and more accessible, we may see companies searching for a highly educated workforce look elsewhere.
In 2014 Jason Carter made education the key component of his platform to take down Governor Deal. We all know how that turned out, as Deal was able to point to recent increases in state funding to show voters that as the economy improved, so would the state’s dedication to keeping education accessible and affordable. As we see tuition take another major hike though, expect the issue to remain a focal point of the debate between Republicans and Democrats in the state going forward.
