University System News:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Ga. colleges push cheaper textbooks
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/education/2015-05-04/ga-colleges-push-cheaper-textbooks
By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
ATLANTA – The Board of Regents may be boosting tuition by 9 percent this year at the state’s major universities while the overall economy’s inflation rate is essentially zero, but the University System of Georgia is trying to find less expensive textbooks. Book prices have also outpaced inflation, rising 82 percent in the last decade, according to U.S.PIRG Education Fund. By its own reckoning, the system will save students and their parents $9 million this year through various initiatives. In addition to the savings, the innovations have the potential to also improve what students are learning.
www.ajc.com
GA spokesman leaving for job with state university system
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/uga-spokesman-leaving-for-job-with-state-universit/nk7N4/
Longtime University of Georgia spokesman Tom Jackson is stepping down in August to take a position as heritage communications executive for the state’s university system. Jackson currently serves as UGA’s vice president for public affairs, and has been the institution’s spokesman for 27 years. …Jackson’s new job duties will include updating the University System’s history, leading the state’s World War I Centennial Commission and working with UGA to expand the work of the state history museum, archives and public library service. He begins his new role Aug. 1, and will report to the chancellor’s office.
www.macon.com
Acting president named for Fort Valley State
http://www.macon.com/2015/05/04/3729151/acting-president-named-for-fort.html
By JEREMY TIMMERMAN
A current Fort Valley State administrator will serve as acting president for the university starting later this month. Jessica Bailey, provost and vice president for academic affairs, was announced as the choice to take over presidential duties from Ivelaw Griffith, who recently announced his resignation, on May 16. She will become interim president on July 1 after Griffith’s contract ends on June 30. The move was announced in a news release on Monday.
www.onlineathens.com
University funding will never be the same, Huckaby tells retirees
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2015-05-01/university-funding-will-never-be-same-huckaby-tells-retirees
By Lee Shearer
State funding for higher education won’t ever be what it was before 2008, University of System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby recently told retirees. “My guess is, we’ll never go back to that level of relative funding,” Huckaby said during a reception for new University of Georgia retirees at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Huckaby also talked about some of the challenges he and the university system have faced since he became chancellor four years ago, and the reason for some of the big changes in the university system he’s overseen. He did not talk about one thing that’s been on the minds of retirees lately – upcoming changes in the university system’s healthcare plans.
www.thebrunswicknews.com
College of Coastal Georgia breaks ground on new housing unit
http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/college-of-coastal-georgia-breaks-ground-on-new-housing-unit/article_d215dee0-481f-564a-b2f5-0cd41e6de8df.html
By ANNA HALL
Construction of a second on-campus dorm at College of Coastal Georgia got under way with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday. College, city, county and state officials gathered under the a bright, clear sky to usher in an exciting new phase for the the college. Named Mariner Village, the housing structure will hold 216 students and will be feature a suit-style design, similar to the current on-campus housing apartments found in the Lakeside Village. The groundbreaking marked a new milestone for the college’s growth.
www.bryancountynews.com
Tuition hikes cloud goal of increasing grads
http://www.bryancountynews.com/section/3/article/36894/
By Claire Suggs
A college education in Georgia just got less affordable. Tuition is rising again in the wake of cuts in state funds for the university system. The HOPE Scholarship covers far less than it used to, and many students do not receive it. A college degree is more important than ever, yet it may be priced out of reach for many students. The average cost to attend Georgia Tech will top $25,000 next year. This includes tuition, fees and books, as well as living expenses such as food, rent, transportation and other basic costs. At the University of Georgia it will cost more than $23,000. Even at less-expensive schools, including Kennesaw State University and Georgia Southern University, the full cost to attend school can be prohibitively high.
USG Institutions:
www.wjcl.com
Armstrong State University opens new Military Resource Center
http://wjcl.com/2015/05/04/armstrong-state-university-opens-new-military-resource-center/
By Dave Williams
SAVANNAH, GA. (WJCL) Armstrong State University’s over 1000 military veteran students now have a place to help them with much needed resources. University officials cut the ribbon Monday morning officially opening the new Military Resource and Veterans Services Center. The new center will be supported by fellow military students and volunteers from the community. They will also be able to receive admissions information, VA claims assistance and additional services.
www.times-herald.com
Dual enrollment saves GA students college debt
http://www.times-herald.com/local/20150503-Dual-enrollment-opportunities-can-give-students-one-year-of-college-credit
by Celia Shortt
Not only do dual enrollment courses allow high school students to earn college credit early, but those higher-level courses also increase graduation rates and improve the community as a whole, according to a university administrator. April Wood, University of West Georgia Coordinator of Pre-College Programs claims the number of Georgia high school students graduating each year has risen to 72.5 percent in the last four years, an increase of 5 percent overall. “Dual enrollment helps increase graduation rate because it engages students in other areas and gets them started early on their college degree,” said Wood. “A student who is dual-enrolled is more likely to obtain a college degree.” The secondary benefit to dual enrollment is the savings.
www.covnews.com
Spring commencement is GPC’s last before merger
http://www.covnews.com/section/1/article/59309/
Georgia Perimeter College’s 50th and final graduation under the GPC banner will take place Friday, May 8, at 10:30 a.m. at the Georgia World Congress Center. The college expects to become a unit of Georgia State University next January. More than 2,050 students are expected to receive their associate degrees during the ceremony. Shelley Nickel, the University System of Georgia’s vice chancellor for strategic planning and implementation, will be the guest speaker.
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
GGC to waive application fee through May 10
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2015/may/01/ggc-to-waive-application-fee-through-may-10/
By Keith Farner
To encourage prospective students to get started on their necessary paperwork, Georgia Gwinnett College is waiving its $20 application fee. The fee will be waived between May 2 and May 10, which is less than five weeks before the fall semester application deadline. Applications can be completed online at www.GAcollege411.org.
www.coosavalleynews.com
GHC Enters Degree Partnership with Dalton State
http://www.coosavalleynews.com/np111464.htm
CVN News
Georgia Highlands College has entered into an agreement with Dalton State College that will streamline the process for any student wishing to obtain a bachelor`s degree in Biology, Chemistry or Mathematics to do so by starting at GHC and later transferring to Dalton State. Any student that enters into the GHC-Dalton State bachelor`s track is automatically accepted at both institutions and can move from one to the other with relative ease.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
Class Notes: UGA president discusses experiential learning initiative
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/109511/
By Kristen Oliver
Gainesville Kiwanis Club had a special guest at its meeting last week. University of Georgia President Jere Morehead visited the Kiwanis Club meeting April 28 at First Baptist Church in Gainesville to share some of the university’s news and initiatives. “You won’t be surprised, but I’m only going to talk to you about the good things the university is doing,” Morehead said to a round of appreciative laughter. Morehead shared information about a new initiative to get UGA students more experiential learning. “We’re going to move now to a process of being the only major public university, that we’re aware of, of our size that is going to have an experiential learning opportunity for every single undergraduate at the university,” Morehead said. “We’re going to spend the next year, now that we have adopted this requirement, putting it in place. We’re not adding any hours to any students’ requirements for degrees, but we want our students to graduate, not only with a degree, but with good, practical experience.”
www.businessinsavannah.com
BiS in brief: Tech opens Supply Chain & Logistics Institute office
http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2015-05-02/business-savannah-brief
The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech has opened a new office at the Georgia Tech-Savannah campus. The Savannah office location will offer workforce development courses, online training, supply chain short courses and executive seminars. The office also will develop dialogues with local businesses about challenges that can be addressed as student group projects or research.
www.macon.com
Education Notebook: Middle Georgia State signs agreement with Northampton
http://www.macon.com/2015/05/03/3728157_education-notebook-middle-georgia.html?rh=1
Middle Georgia State College and the University of Northampton, based in Northamptonshire, England, will exchange faculty and students and collaborate on research as part of an agreement established by leaders of both institutions. Christopher Blake, president of Middle Georgia State, and professor Nick Petford, vice chancellor of the University of Northampton, signed a memorandum of understanding on April 23 that will allow the two institutions to work together on various academic activities of mutual interest.
www.patch.com
5K Raises Funds for Georgia Southern School of Nursing Memorial Fund
The race along the Big Creek Greenway will raise funds in memory of the five students killed last week in a wreck near Savannah.
http://patch.com/georgia/alpharetta/5k-raises-funds-georgia-southern-school-nursing-memorial-fund
By Kristal Dixon
A fundraiser will be held next week to benefit the nursing program five Georgia Southern University students were studying under before they died in a fiery, seven-vehicle pile up last week near Savannah. The 5K run/walk will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 6 along the Big Creek Greenway. …Donations will be collected to support the Georgia Southern University’s School of Nursing Students’ Memorial Fund at the walk/run. Donations can also be made directly to School of Nursing Students’ Memorial Fund online.
www.savannahnow.com
Elliott Brack: Regents should consider moving nursing program to Savannah
http://savannahnow.com/column/2015-05-03/elliott-brack-regents-should-consider-moving-nursing-program-savannah
By ELLIOTT BRACK
The tragic vehicular pile-up on I-16 near Savannah where five Georgia Southern University nursing students were killed has shocked our state and has caused concern on the national stage. It may even lead to new legislation regulating heavy transport rigs to push safer highways. …But is there another way to teach nursing at Georgia Southern than requiring students to travel to Savannah daily? Could the entire School of Nursing be based in Savannah on a satellite Georgia Southern campus? Or should Georgia Southern run this program at all? After all, two of the University System’s four-year colleges are in Chatham County. That would be Savannah State University and Armstrong State University. In other words, is this a question that higher authority, the state Board of Regents, should decide?
www.ajc.com
Clayton State University evacuated due to bomb threat
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/clayton-state-university-evacuated-due-to-bomb-thr/nk8ZC/
All buildings at Clayton State University were evacuated and being searched after a bomb threat Monday afternoon, according to police and university officials. The campus, located in Morrow, was evacuated after the threat was made, shortly after noon, Maritza Ferreira, university spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. “We are asking for people to avoid coming to campus until we indicate that the campus has been re-opened,” Ferreira said. Classes were cancelled for the remainder of the day.
www.srnnews.com
No bomb found at Georgia’s Clayton State University after threat
http://www.srnnews.com/no-bomb-found-at-georgias-clayton-state-university-after-threat/
(Reuters) – Clayton State University was reopened Monday evening, hours after a bomb threat triggered an evacuation of the Atlanta-area school’s main campus.The university, with a student body of about 6,700, was evacuated after an anonymous threat that a bomb had been placed in an unspecified building was phoned in to the campus shortly after noon, school spokeswoman Maritza Ferreira said in a statement. …The search yielded no explosives, and all areas were deemed safe, but not before classes had been canceled for the day.
www.wsbtv.com
KSU officials warn of reported sexual assault
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/ksu-officials-warn-reported-sexual-assault/nk8Fd/
By Rachel Stockman
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Kennesaw State University officials are warning students about a reported sexual assault at KSU housing. KSU students received an email Sunday morning about the reported sexual assault that happened at KSU Place on Idlewood Avenue in Kennesaw on KSU’s campus.
www.redandblack.com
Student found dead outside convenience store
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/student-found-dead-outside-convenience-store/article_201eeb8a-f28b-11e4-bb70-7390e4085ea5.html
Staff Reports
A University of Georgia student was found dead in his pickup truck on Sunday at about 7:30 a.m., as the result of what appears to have been a suicide, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report. The student was found shot to death in his truck, parked at the gas pumps of a Lexington Road convenience store. A handgun was recovered from the truck, as well as a handwritten note found on the dashboard, according to the police report.
www.savannahnow.com
Skidaway researcher exposes impact of Arctic melt
http://savannahnow.com/news/2015-05-01/skidaway-researcher-exposes-impact-arctic-melt
By Mary Landers
As the planet warms, the doors are being thrown open on a massive storehouse of carbon in the Arctic, warns University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography researcher Aron Stubbins. Stubbins is part of a team investigating how ancient carbon, previously locked away in Arctic permafrost, is now being released into the atmosphere and is accelerating man-made warming. The results of the study were published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Higher Education News:
www.wsj.com
Financial Aid: It’s Not Too Late
Some scholarships and other help are still available for students starting college this year
http://www.wsj.com/articles/financial-aid-its-not-too-late-1430483193
By ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS
Most incoming college freshmen had to choose a school by May 1. Many of them—along with returning students—are staring at thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs that they and their families will have to pay. There may yet be time to lower that amount. Some free aid still is up for grabs, including scholarships from nonprofits, banks and others. There also are lower-cost alternatives to traditional college loans, including payment plans that don’t charge interest. But first, students should find out from their college’s financial-aid office whether receiving extra aid or other help could lower any need-based aid they have been awarded already.
www.insidehighered.com
Who’s to Blame for Rising Tuition?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/05/report-says-administrative-bloat-construction-booms-not-largely-responsible-tuition
By Kellie Woodhouse
Public university students today pay $3,000 more in annual tuition than their counterparts a decade ago. Why that is depends on whom you ask. Some pundits like to blame administrative bloat or the construction boom. Within higher education, many cite the decline in state support. “Although academics and media alike have tried to put the question to rest, public confusion on this issue is one reason why effective solutions remain illusory in almost every state,” asserts a report released today by Demos, a left-leaning New York public policy think tank. The report attempts to pinpoint the factors driving up the price for students seeking a four-year degree at a public college.
www.chronicle.com
Attainment, Completion, and the Trouble in Measuring Them Both
http://chronicle.com/blogs/data/2015/05/04/attainment-completion-and-the-trouble-in-measuring-them-both/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
By Sandhya Kambhampati
Here’s a seemingly simple question: How have the educational-attainment rates of various groups of Americans changed over the years? It’s a question with considerable impact. For example, the answer could help determine how well the country’s colleges and universities are meeting its labor needs, and how equitable education is across various demographic groups. And the answer is? Well … that’s the hard part. In a new report from George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Sandy Baum and two co-authors asked that and a handful of related questions, but they found the answers far more elusive than one might suspect. The result is a pretty good guide to the challenges of education data, including these five “gotchas” that are good to remember: