The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: News

ADAMS [Click to enlarge]

Tuition chart

The Board of Regents increased University tuition, bumped the full-time credit hour requirement from 12 to 15 hours and reinstated the $100 student fee - all effective fall 2009 - in a meeting Tuesday.

In-state students will pay 25 percent more for tuition and out-of-state students will pay 15 percent more to attend the University.

The Regents also terminated the state's "Fixed for Four" tuition guarantee for fall 2009 - but students already on the plan will not be affected by the increases, said Regents spokesperson John Millsaps in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. He said he could not comment on whether the "Fixed for Four" plan would be reinstated in fall 2010.

The "Fixed for Four" plan, approved by the Regents under the Guaranteed Tuition Plan policy in 2006, sets a four-year tuition rate for incoming freshmen.

University students not on the "Fixed for Four" plan will begin paying higher rates in the fall and must register for 15 hours to achieve full-time status.

New Tuition Model

The Regents formulated new flat-rate tuition models for the University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"The intent of the change to a flat tuition rate of 15 hours at UGA and Tech is to encourage students to take these credits and graduate sooner," said Usha Ramachandran, vice chancellor for fiscal affairs for the University System of Georgia, in a news release.

In-state students, excluding those covered by "Fixed for Four," taking six hours or fewer will pay a flat tuition of $1,800 per semester. In-state students taking more than six hours will pay a flat tuition of $3,035.

Out-of-state students will pay a flat rate of $7,200 for up to six credit hours, or $12,140 for more than six credit hours.

Last year, in-state students paid $203 per credit hour and out-of-state students paid $882 per credit hour - up to 12 hours. For 12 to 15 hours, in-state students paid $2,428 and out-of-state students paid $10,584.

Under the new model, in-state students will pay $582 more for six hours of credit and $607 more for credits exceeding six hours.

Out-of-state students will pay $1,908 more for six hours of credit and $1,556 more for credits exceeding six hours.

The state will continue paying 100 percent of tuition for students receiving the HOPE scholarship, said Monet Robinson, communications specialist for the Georgia Student Finance Commission.

"As far as I know, we will still be covering tuition and HOPE will still pay for it," Robinson said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. "We haven't really spoken with anyone from the Board of Regents and we have yet to see how everything is going to flow. But as far as I'm concerned and aware of, we will still be paying HOPE."

$100 Special Fee

The $100 "temporary" fee instituted this spring was approved by the Regents for the next full academic year, Millsaps said.

HOPE does not cover the $100 fee because fees have been capped at 2003-04 rates. Because of that cap, whenever fees have increased since 2003-04, HOPE has not covered them, said Nancy Ferguson, assistant director in the Office of Student Financial Aid at the University.

"Book money can go to pay that student fee increase that HOPE doesn't cover," Ferguson said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. She explained that students have the option to pay the fees not covered by HOPE with their $150 per semester book allowance.

"Fixed for Four"

The Board of Regents decided Tuesday it will honor the "Fixed for Four" plans given to all students who enrolled in Georgia colleges from fall 2006 through fall 2008, Millsaps said.

The "Fixed for Four" plan guarantees a four-year tuition rate for the University's incoming freshmen.

"If you enrolled as a freshman student in any of those three cohort years, you were put on a 'Fixed for Four' tuition," Millsaps told The Red & Black. "This will not change."

Millsaps said students who enrolled in those years did not need to apply for the "Fixed for Four" plan - all students who enrolled for the first time at a Georgia college were automatically put on the plan.

However, students who will be fifth-year seniors in the fall - those who enrolled before fall 2006 - must pay the new tuition rates and register for at least 15 hours to be given full-time status.

Ramachandran said in a news release that the Regents increased full time credit hours because "the bulk of freshmen take more than 12 hours."

"Sixty-two percent of freshmen take 13 or more credit hours - and that rises to 88 percent at UGA and [Georgia] Tech," Ramachandran said.

How does the University compare?

University President Michael Adams released a statement Tuesday saying he supports the tuition increase made by the Regents.

"I believe the Regents have struck an important balance between the needs of our students and the needs of the University," he said.

"The worst thing that could happen at an institution with students [with] the academic quality of UGA's is for the quality of instruction to diminish. These collective actions by the Regents will allow UGA to function effectively in 2010 and still keep UGA tuition and fees below the average of Southern flagships."

Before the increased tuition Tuesday, the University's tuition and fees were at least $945 higher than those at the University of Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi State, North Carolina State and West Virginia University, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education's college tuition database.

With the increased tuition rates, the University has higher out-of-state tuition and fees than all Southern Regional Education Board flagships for 2008-09, excluding the University of Virginia.

The University's in-state tuition is still lower than the 2008-09 rates for the universities of Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education's college tuition database.

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