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Schools

UGA President Adams warns of continued cuts

University budget cuts next year will be made up with student tuition hikes and fee increases, additional cuts to departments.

University of Georgia President Michael Adams told faculty and students Thursday the college will start next year with $50 million less revenue than last year, forcing more students and their families to help plug a gaping hole in next year's budget.

Students as early as the summer can expect to pay 3 percent more for tuition as well as an additional $250 institutional research fee. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the increases earlier this week.  Additionally, the univerity deans and vice presidents will have to shave another 2 to 2.5 percent cut from their departmental budgets, Adams said.

“We have worked as efficiently with the legislature and governor's office and others to make these cuts as painless as we could given the circumstances," Adams said. "In these times, one has to focus on priorities."

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 Although he didn't expect any widespread layoffs or salary reductions, Adams said the extent of the cuts may mean some additional “limited service layoffs,” and could make paying for college more difficult for students than it has been in recent memory.

In recent years student tuition and fees have steadily risen. Now for the first time in decades, student contributions will surpass the portion of funding the university receives to operate from the state, Adams said.

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“For the first time in modern times - certainly since World War II - tuition and fees are now a larger portion of our budget than state funding,” Adams said. “It means we are increasingly dependent on tuition and on students and their families and I know the charges that have been imposed will be difficult for some to bear.”

But despite the cuts, Adams said he believed the decisions made at the state-level will save the HOPE scholarship from bankruptcy and preserve the quality of academia at the university.

“Nobody likes tuition and fee increases, but this will help us maintain the quality we have built here during the past decade or so. Even with additional fees and tuition, we still remain one of the best academic bargains in the country,” Adams said.

Next year the university plans to hire 60 additional tenured-track faculty, more full-time lecturers, to increase assistance for graduate students, travel expenses, and will take steps to increase its international presence, Adams said.

To account for less HOPE scholarship money, Adams has also requested the university begin to look for other funding sources to help award more merit-based and need-based financial aid, he said.

“The decisions we have made about the allocations and resources have been made and will continue to be made based on strategic priorities developed with input from every unit,” Adams said. “We will continue to do everything we can to strengthen the academic environment, and we will continue to fulfill this important mission of the university.

 

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