ATLANTA- The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) voted not to raise tuition rates for the 2023-24 academic year at 25 of 26 institutions, with Middle Georgia University as the one exception. This vote is the sixth time in eight years that the Board has approved keeping tuition costs flat at USG’s public colleges and universities.
“By holding the line on tuition, the Board of Regents is once again championing the students and families of Georgia,” USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. “What should also be clear is that the University System of Georgia remains strongly focused on our highest priorities of degree attainment, efficiency and affordability. That doesn’t negate the financial headwinds and increasing costs our institutions face, and I look forward to working with Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly to do everything we can to try to restore funding.”
In the 2022-2023 academic year, the Board eliminated the mandatory Special Institutional Fee established to provide financial support for high-quality educational programs and operations during the reductions in state funding caused by the Great Recession. Currently, USG is the third lowest for median in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at four-year institutions among the 16 states that make up the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), according to the latest available data.
“We have been a good deal for Georgia,” Perdue said. “With the Board’s decision today, we remain a great deal. Still, our institutions face strong financial challenges. We’re reaching a tipping point at which we need to mitigate inflationary pressures in order to maintain the quality of education.”
The University System of Georgia is currently dealing with a combined loss of $71.6 million in state funds for FY24 at 20 institutions due to enrollment declines. This comes on the wheels of the Georgia General Assembly reducing the system’s state funding for FY24 by an additional $66 million. In addition, institutions are battling inflation, with some campuses seeing utility costs rise by as much as 40%.