Today the Student Government Association gave a "State of the College Address" to raise awareness among Gainesville State College students of proposed budget cuts to the University System of Georgia. At the moment, it seems a tuition hike will not be used to make up for the cuts.
A proposed budget-cut summary was released today by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Over the weekend college presidents and administrators from the 35 USG institutions were asked by Chancellor Erroll Davis to produce an outline summarizing cuts that could be made to meet the additional $300 million deficit in educational funding.
Dressed in their school colors, college students from all across the state filled the plaza in front of the capitol building to voice their opposition to proposed budget cuts to the University System of Georgia. The students were protesting the "archaic fix to the dire financial situation that Georgia is in," Daniel Bentley, treasurer and secretary of Gainesville State College's Student Government Association.
On Thursday morning Marya Leatherwood and other GSC administrators were told that they had two days to produce a plan outlining deeper budget cuts for the Board of Regents. Leatherwood, who is the vice president for Academic Affairs, said BOR Chancellor Enroll Davis informed them that the University System of Georgia could be required to make an additional $300 million in budget cuts for the state's 35 colleges and institutions.
Most of SGA's agenda items took a back seat on Friday. Andrew Wilkinson, president of SGA, and other SGA members spent much of the morning in an emergency meeting between GSC administrators and student leaders. From the meeting students learned that administrators were to submit a document containing proposed budget cuts to the office of the University System of Georgia by Saturday.
There will not be a tuition hike. Yet. The Board of Regents is asking University System of Georgia schools to cut their budgets by $300 million. For the moment, this isn't coming out of students' pockets. "(W)e're not talking about a tuition increase at this point," Marya Leatherwood, vice-president for Academic Affairs, said.
Today students, faculty and staff will gather in two called meetings on to discuss proposed legislation that could raise tuition 77 percent. The emergency meetings, called by Marya Leatherwood, Vice President of Academic Affairs, are to promote discussion and allow input on the budget crisis.