As state cuts its college investment, campuses turn to students. Is there a breaking point?
The state is investing less and less in college educations. (AJC/file photo)
The Sunday AJC contains several great education stories, some of which will not appear online as the stories are subscriber only. One of the Sunday stories that is online delves into the rising costs of public colleges and the concomitant rising student debt.
This is the line that I suspect will provoke the most debate: A decade ago, the state paid 75 percent of the cost of educating a student. Today it covers 54 percent, with students and their parents picking up most of the rest.
The retort that I expect is that students and parents should be responsible for all the costs, and that it shouldn’t fall to the state to pay the bills for students.
But state governments have long taken the position that underwriting college educations is a potent investment and a proven route to a stronger economy. A better educated workforce attracts jobs and leads to a higher tax base, lower health costs, less crime and more civility.
Here is an excerpt of the story by AJC reporters Laura Diamond and James Salzer:
Although most of them don’t know what it’s for, Georgia’s college students are paying a “special institutional fee” that can exceed $1,000 a year. The fee was supposed to end this summer, but University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby told the AJC last week that it will continue next year and probably beyond. The reason: It brings in $210 million a year.
The story of the special institutional fee is the continuing story of the University System of Georgia: The economy may be in a downturn, but the state’s colleges are on an upswing, and students are paying for much of it. Spending has gone from $5.4 billion in 2007 to a projected $7 billion this year, and is expected to continue to climb next year. Tuition and fees at many schools have doubled since the fall of 2005, hitting close to $10,000 a year at the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.
Since taking office in July, Huckaby has been seeking ways to control spending amid cuts to the HOPE scholarship, an outcry from students that they can no longer afford a college education, and open frustration voiced by lawmakers. Those same lawmakers, who have griped for years about excessive college spending, are nonetheless set to increase University System funding by $120 million and double what the state borrows for campus construction.
For their part, college presidents said they have increased class sizes, reduced the number of course sections offered, eliminated open positions and held off on maintenance and new technology to absorb cuts in state spending. They note that they’ve made these cuts while teaching record numbers of students.
A decade ago, the state paid 75 percent of the cost of educating a student. Today it covers 54 percent, with students and their parents picking up most of the rest. Even Huckaby concedes that the task of controlling costs in the sometimes unruly University System — 35 schools, 318,000 students and 42,000 employees — is enormous. “I think costs will go up,” he said. “I think what we are trying to do our very best is moderate the rate of increase.”
Even as legislators have publicly criticized spending by the University System, the system has publicly complained about deep cuts by the Legislature. While overall university spending has gone up, state support has dropped from $2.1 billion in 2008 to $1.7 billion this year. It will increase to more than $1.8 billion under the budget being considered by lawmakers. Many states continue to slash college funding. In Florida, for instance, the Legislature has agreed to cut the state’s support for higher ed by $300 million.
But not in Georgia. Here, lawmakers are debating whether to add $120 million to next year’s higher ed budget, largely to pay for growth in enrollment. That increase, if enacted, still won’t necessarily keep the system from raising tuition and some fees.
The “special institutional fee,” which was approved during the recession to help make up for budget cuts, was supposed to end this year. Huckaby said it won’t, although the Board of Regents eventually would like to do away with it. The fee has skyrocketed. Georgia Tech students paid $100 a semester in January 2009. Now they pay $544 a semester. The problem, Huckaby said, is that the system can’t give up the millions the fee brings in.
“We can’t afford to take a $210 million hit right now,” he said. “The ultimate goal would be to eliminate that or come close to eliminating that.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
72 comments Add your comment
LJ
March 12th, 2012
8:10 am
Econ 101: increase the buying power of the students(loans, grants, BS) and watch the prices rise.
The reason why students are demanding absurd luxuries in housing and dinning on campuses is because THEY ARE NOT PAYING FOR IT. We have given students and universities a blank check year after year in the name of “investing in our future.” It is little wonder that education costs have skyrocketed at such an alarming rate.
As a Georgia Tech grad of 2011 I wholeheartedly OPPOSE the absurd amount of subsidies thrown at students today. I especially detest the federal lending program that dolls out tens of thousands of dollars to people who will NEVER have the means to repay it.
We are watching an economic bubble form in education and it will inevitably bust. Unfortunately nothing will be done about it until there is a real crisis and then all of the instigators(and likely this very blog) will be “shocked” that this could happen and claim that there was not way to predict the inevitable wall that we are racing towards.
Willful ignorance is to blame for our current education mess and the coming bust.
catlady
March 12th, 2012
8:18 am
It would be nice if this would silence some of those who blame the USGA for the price increases. Much of the blame sits with the legislature,which has chosen to cut what they allot per student. Lets bring it back to 75%, and we will see many more be able to swing it on their own like nomore handouts, who DID get a handout when he/she was in college, to the tune of 75% of the cost being paid by the taxpayers.
I just love it when those who have “pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps” conveniently forget how much subsidy they received from others viaa free K-12 education, much of their college paid for by taxpayers, tax incentives for childbearing for their parents., parental welfare for their parents who owned a home(tax writeoffs), etc. Time for these braggarts to face it–virtually no one does it on their own!
To Just for Kids
March 12th, 2012
8:22 am
You advocate “Debt is not easily repaid. Get a degree online.”
Online degrees are almost worthless. We who hire others do not look at college graduates equally. When someone applies for a job with a Bachelors degree from an online University, I put their resume where it belongs — in the deleted folder.
In a robust economy where college graduates are having a hard time finding a job, what your learned and how you learned and where you went to school really matter.
I’ve taken a few online courses. Here’s the diffference I’ve noticed. When a bricks and mortar school offers an online course the course tends to be OK but when the course comes from a diploma factory like Phoenix or Walden it’s overpriced and under-taught.
When taking courses online, one can fake it and have another person take the tests and do the work for you. A real, live human body with a mastery of the subject material is worth much more than a computer. Many undergraduate degrees require team projects and a masters degree requires team projects; that’s not true of an online course or degree. In the real world, especially in the business world, one works within a team, not alone.
GM
Where do we get the 75%?
March 12th, 2012
8:29 am
Catlady advocates the legislature pay for the college tuition and writes “Much of the blame sits with the legislature,which has chosen to cut what they allot per student. Lets bring it back to 75%”
The legislature didn’t choose to cut back, catlady. They were forced to cut back. Those who have worked as an entitled government employee always have their hands out asking for more.
Catlady, that money comes from me and others like me ad we tax payers don’t have more money lying around to give entitled workers. Where would you like to see the money come from, Catlady? should we cut the k-12 education budget? should we lay off police officers and k-12 teachers?
This is a rotten economy and cuts have to be made. Until the economy is strong again, we won’t have money to pay for 75% of the college education in GA. Cuts HAVE to be made.
That means there has to be cuts made in the administration of those colleges, in the luxuries afforded students, in the sports areas.
…or,
Catlady, should we ge the money by laying off public k-12 school teachers?
should we give them more furlough days and elminate their yearly raises?
State legislatures have to balance the budget every year. States cannot operate in the red as the federal government does.
Cuts have to be made.
GM
Dose Of Reality
March 12th, 2012
8:38 am
Homeschooler, as a recent college grad, I can (unfortunately) agree completely with what you posted on your March 11, 11:44 a.m post, if I had only knew what I knew now as a college graduate, I might actually had pursued another calling after high school rather than college. While it’s essential to have a degree to a certain extent, it’s also a major inconvenience due in part to not being able to find a job or finding a job that’s paying even close to what you were expecting prior to entering school. I’m not going to point any fingers at the government, the school system, or any other source because this was my final decision as the student to attend school in the first place.
However, so many students are (indeed) not informed of the seriousness that they are putting themselves into as far as college debt once they complete their studies, no matter what job title or position you stand at in life, Sallie Mae is still going to have their hand out waiting for their payment (with their overwhelming interest added to it), I make slightly under $30,000 a year, but have have over 40K in student loans (which is actually decent compared to some). If a person mixes that with everyday living expenses (rent, food, GAS, car maintance, etc.) That’s enough to make a person want to find the nearest bridge and take a plunge…… Something definitely needs to be done to help combact this issue, I understand that life is about risk, but this is ridiculous!!!! p.s. Why didn’t I just join the military right out of high school????
Buzz144
March 12th, 2012
9:02 am
Get the illegal aliens out of our tax supported colleges, and there will be room for more legal students and a reduction in “fees” also. The illegal alien situation is a national disgrace.
Dr. Phil
March 12th, 2012
9:19 am
Adams’ total benefits have been over a million dollars a year for at least the past five years. During the same period, professors and staff have suffered pay cuts in the form of furlough days. Adams’ $50,000 pay raise this year was moved from the Athletic Department fund for minority scholarships. Adams would have been fired years ago for fleecing the Foundation had it not been for his protectors, Regent Leebron, Sonny Perdue, and a hand picked BOR.
Admit the truth...
March 12th, 2012
9:55 am
Take away remdial classes, if you cannot pass college level courses, you have no business attending or spending the $$$. How many HOPE dolalrs are wasted on students that have no chance of ever graduating or even competing but were lulled into thinking they could?
MICHAEL
March 12th, 2012
10:19 am
By any measure college spending has outstripped inflation by a factor of 2 for decades. This is not substainable. Colleges have gotten to be bloated and top heavy with salaries and benifits out of balance.
SoGaDawg
March 12th, 2012
10:48 am
@ Does of Reality.
So what that you make $30,000 right now? You’ll make more than that later on in life. It just takes time. One thing I find amazing is that people have no problem taking out $30,000 (or more) in loans to finance car, but, if they have to take out $30,000 in loans to finance their education, then they act like they’ll “never get out of debt”, and its the end of the world. That’s simply being short-sided, and a case of failing to see the forrest because of the trees.
Furthermore, a car is a decreasing investment that declines in value from the minute you purchase it. However, statistics show that people who have simply a Bachelor’s degree make much more money over a lifetime than someone with a mere High School Diploma. Yet once again, people have no problem taking out that car loan. But if you ask them to take out a loan for their education, then its “not fair”. But the again, it sounds better to say that you’ve got to jump off a bridge because a measly $40,000 in student loans doesn’t it?
And by the way, this is coming from someone who still owes about $100,000 in student loans. Yes, it sucks to have this much student debt, but I think its worth it in the long run. Although I came out of undergrad at UGA with no debt (thanks to HOPE and the GI Bill – which I earned from 5 years of service in the United States Marines), I was only making slightly over $30,000 a year. I thought I wasn’t making enough. So what did I do? I saddled up with about $100k in student loans and went to law school. Now I’m making six figures and the approximately $850 a month I pay in student loans is very managable. I’m also able to afford that new car and a mortgage. Why? Because I was smart enough to realize that it takes an investment to get a good return on my education.
Of course, if I was you, I guess I’d go run and jump off a bridge….
Warrior Woman
March 12th, 2012
11:40 am
@Homeschooler – College students are not “kids” when they take on student loan debt. They are legal adults and responsible for their actions. At age 18, they can serve in the military, vote, legally enter contracts, and do adult time if they commit crimes. In addition, they receive myriad disclosures on the cost of student loans, the fact that student loans are not forgiven in bankruptcy, etc. If they choose to borrow anyway, the students have no one to blame but themselves. Wise students will consider the cost of education, including student loans, compared to their likely earnings and make choices accordingly. Some will choose to work throughout their college lives or to alternate college and work periods to avoid student loans. Others will decide that taking a heavier course load and graduating sooner is worth some student debt. Still others will play while taking out loans to spend 4 years studying underwater basketweaving at a high-priced private school. While some of these choices may not be wise, they are adult choices.
catlady
March 12th, 2012
11:43 am
gM: The state started down this road to decreasing funding to higher ed long before the economy went south. What say you on that as a “reason?” If it is because of the “poor taxpayer”–I am one also–why did it start during the boom times? (Quite like the way Perdue did with K-12 and austerity cuts, BTW.)
Of course there are multiple reason, but if you look at the legislature allotting, say, $7,000 per student, and now it is allotting $5000 per student, well, it is obvious that that is a big hit. The money has to come from somewhere. It sure doesn’t look like it will come from “Go Fish, Georgia!” one of our most important tourist draws!
cost of education disgusted
March 12th, 2012
12:02 pm
Having a child getting ready for college and working at a major research university in GA gives me a unique persepctive. There are funds that are literally “given away” by departments and faculty. Many faculty who conduct research have “cost shared” their time on projects because they believe “it would appear that the university is seriously committed to their research”. The fact is most sponsors a) are not impressed by it and b) didn’t request it. If it is requested by a sponsor, they give a specific amount say 10% of what the faculty is requesting. Some faculty will cost share 3 or 4 times more than what is requested. Also, we do have a lot of administration with loftly titles that do very little or nothing. They have staff that does the work for them. If they ever took the time to look into it, they would see that a lot of resources are wasted at universities.
Tag
March 12th, 2012
12:09 pm
Education is unbeatable.
Financing an education at a third rate college for someone who would be better off at trade school is crazy. Is everyone entitled to or capable of a good coledge education?????????
Cluefull
March 12th, 2012
12:44 pm
College costs are out of control, and have risen much faster than other costs. This is because of the “free money” that floods the higher educational system. The first step to get all this back under control is to make student loans bankruptable. Then the $100,000 women’s studies degree will find its true market value, which is “not much”.
rob
March 12th, 2012
2:07 pm
“A decade ago, the state paid 75 percent of the cost of educating a student. Today it covers 54 percent, with students and their parents picking up most of the rest.”
The state should fund 0% of the college cost with the student picking up 100% as I did.
College is becoming a resort for those who want to avoid work or responsibility.
Part of this failure can be blamed on state schools K-12 not properly teaching a work ethic and evenly rewarding failure to prevent “someone’s feelings from being hurt”.
Prof
March 12th, 2012
2:19 pm
@ rob, 2:07 pm. “The state should fund 0% of the college cost with the student picking up 100% as I did..”
That has NEVER been true, and it wasn’t back in your day. State legislatures have always allocated funds to colleges because the students’ tuition NEVER covered the full cost of personnel salaries, staffing and running campus offices, building and campus repairs, energy costs to heat and air condition buildings…. you get the idea.
illegal or idiot
March 12th, 2012
2:46 pm
I vote for keeping valedictorians who happened to be illegal in this country and educating them to be productive citizens and sending idiots like GM to Mexico – maybe they can fix the problems there.
KJaa
March 12th, 2012
3:39 pm
As usual this so called Obama care is and will continue to be blamed on the states shortfall…..whatever! As far as I’m concerned then don’t help the poor with medical care, no grants for students, nothing! I’m so tired of this bs! We can whine and moan about uneducated kids and young adults in the street but don’t give a darn about helping them become tax paying citizens of our state. Work programs in many schools are a joke, positions are hard to find for students, even off campus jobs are few and far between…..most students who are lucky enough to find positions often work more and more hours and failing due to very little study time….I say get rid of everything and see how that will work!…..when everything is going wrong in this state…..let’s blame the poor, uneducated, unemployed, mentally challenged, immigrants, blah!……smh!
KJaa
March 12th, 2012
3:41 pm
Lets give the college chancellors more million dollar salaries….if no one can afford to attend school who are they going to lead?
catlady
March 13th, 2012
8:18 am
Perhaps there should be, explictly, two kinds of colleges (not talking about vo-techs here). A bare bones school that just offers instruction for a low price, and the champaign schools that offer the climbing walls, football teams, etc. I know that is kind of what we have now, but many of the two years are pushing toward fancier buildings, dorms, etc. So those who say they can’t afford it can send their kids to a college with good instruction, but none of those fancy student affairs kind of things, and those who want and can afford the icying on the cupcake can go there.
jd
March 13th, 2012
9:00 am
When Proverbs was written, the Rabbis were aware of people who were ignorant because they had not been taught, others were unteachable because they could not learn, Still others were unteachable because they would not learn. There are many comments on this post born of ignorance.