University System News:
www.ajc.com
Georgia colleges need more state support, studies say
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-colleges-need-more-state-support-studies-say/LvX9AVZ0gQgEesaENuchaL/
Eric Stirgus The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two organizations have issued new reports reaching the same conclusion: The state of Georgia is not doing enough financially to help students graduate from its colleges. The Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report Wednesday that shows Georgia had the fourth-highest tuition increase of any state since 2008, nearly 75 percent. The data was adjusted for inflation and focuses on four-year institutions. A separate report released Tuesday by the Atlanta-based Georgia Budget and Policy Institute showed per-student funding declines greater than 10 percent for students during the same time period in the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia.
www.northwestgeorgianews.com
GHC’s economic impact approaches $150 million
http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/education/ghc-s-economic-impact-approaches-million/article_6a0838d0-880e-11e7-beea-4f9a993efcb2.html
The University System of Georgia recently released the USG’s total economic impact on the state of Georgia. Of the more than $16 billion reported by the USG as a whole, Georgia Highlands College’s contribution was over $149 million. The USG report is for Fiscal Year 2016 and is conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. GHC’s economic impact was exactly: $149,423,968. This represents an increase of over $17 million from the 2015 report, which means the college has increased its impact by more than $30 million since the Fiscal Year 2014 report.
www.myajc.com
Kennesaw State has a $1.4 billion economic impact, state study says
http://www.myajc.com/news/local/kennesaw-state-has-billion-economic-impact-state-study-says/LBMbOiVkrO7K3rCXN6cZ6K/
By Ben Brasch – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kennesaw State University had a $1.4 billion impact on the regional economy during the last year, the school announced Tuesday. A study reviewed the statewide impact of the University System of Georgia, which came out to $16.8 billion. Last year that number was $15.5 billion. The Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business conducted the study, which looked at data from July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016. The study defined the impact area of KSU – which has about 35,000 students – as all of metro Atlanta, not just Cobb County. For some perspective on KSU’s $1.4 billion: Georgia Gwinnett College had an impact of $451 million, and Georgia Tech’s was $3 billion.
www.11alive.com
Go back to college and earn college degree — it’s free
http://www.11alive.com/life/family/seniors/senior-source-go-back-to-college-and-earn-college-degree-its-free/466438778
William Liss, WXIA
ATLANTA– For seniors over 62 years of age, now is a great time to go back to school and even earn a college degree. The best news of all—its free!! More than 30 Georgia colleges and universities allow seniors to sit-in on classes where there is room and work toward a college degree if qualified. Now in its 30th year, the program has allowed thousands of Georgia seniors to keep up the momentum of learning. A Senior Citizen Guide for College provides a comprehensive list of Georgia colleges and universities providing reduced or free tuition for seniors over 62 (see below). It’s easy to contact the undergraduate admissions office at the Georgia college of your choice to find out how to register for classes. Admission offices will provide all of the information on registration and classes available.
www.albanyherald.com
Leesburg native Denise Ward joins staff at Albany State University
New special assistant to the president for marketing, strategic communications named
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/local/leesburg-native-denise-ward-joins-staff-at-albany-state-university/article_90d5ba3e-aaf8-52f8-ae45-fdd8af35b418.html#utm_source=albanyherald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1503576011&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
By Terry Lewis
Albany State University President Art Dunning has named Denise Ward as the special assistant to the president for marketing and strategic communications. Ward joined the university on Aug. 7. A native of Leesburg, Ward said she wouldn’t describe her arrival as a homecoming, but rather as a second homecoming. Prior to joining Albany State, she served as a corporate communications manager at The Hershey Company in Hershey, Pa. “This is my home,” she said. “I liked working with Hershey, but I got homesick.” A 20-year veteran of the media and communications field, Ward has experience in print and broadcast journalism, corporate communications, public and media relations, and public affairs. “My job is to help the community to see what Albany State University is and get them to take a closer look at all the wonderful opportunities we have to offer,” Ward said. “Basically, my job is to share the story of Albany State.”
www.thegeorgeanne.com
Center for Sustainability reflects on the Paris Climate Agreement and consolidation
http://www.thegeorgeanne.com/news/article_6b87cc26-d6d7-5764-b5bf-92fd884f5a50.html
By George Andersen The George-Anne Staff
Georgia Southern University’s Center for Sustainability plans to continue improving climate neutrality on campus along with the consolidation with Armstrong State University and despite the nation’s dropping out of the Paris Climate Agreement. “We will continue with our commitment to work towards climate neutrality here at Georgia Southern, we’ve signed the president’s commitment, it’s something that the University is committed to modeling to the community and it’s something that saves us a tremendous amount of money,” Lissa Leege, Director of the Center for Sustainability, said. The Center for Sustainability is seen on campus from bike pump stations that will soon be placed at every residence hall, to water bottle filler stations that display how many bottles of water were saved from being used, and they are being noticed for it. While the Center for Sustainability continues to work behind the scenes, it also offers many opportunities for students to become more aware of carbon footprint and to help out on campus.
www.walb.com
ASU hosts campus carry workshop for students
http://www.walb.com/story/36190037/asu-hosts-campus-carry-workshop-for-students
By Catherine Patterson, Anchor
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – Tuesday morning, ASU police held their second campus carry workshop to answer questions students and faculty may have about the new law. One student said he feels safer on campus now. “I’m definitely enjoying it,” said ASU freshman Brandon Wainwright. Wainwright said he’s relieved House Bill 280 passed. “I just came from the Marine Corps, and in the last four years I was there, there were countless shootings in schools and everything else. College was kind of a nerve racking place,” he said. Now, his outlook on safety at school has changed. With the new law in effect, students with a permit can carry a concealed weapon on a public college campus. Guns are allowed in classrooms, but not in classrooms with enrolled high school students. On Tuesday, ASU police invited students, faculty, staff, and guests to attend a workshop about the law and what to do in an active shooter situation. Wainwright was one of the handfuls of students to attend.
www.myajc.com
UGA group considers removing portrait of Confederate leader
http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/uga-group-considers-removing-portrait-confederate-leader/44cpTde3yybU23s6VHXtIO/
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A University of Georgia student organization may remove a portrait of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee from its hall, saying this month’s deadly, racially-charged clashes in Charlottesville, Va. convinced some leaders now is the time to remove it. “With the tensions in Charlottesville, it’s the right time to bring it down,” Alanna Pierce, president of the organization, the Demosthenian Literary Society, said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. Pierce, a first-year UGA law student and the first African-American president of the society, said some alumni members are against the idea, expressing “strong feelings about honoring the Confederacy.” However, she believes keeping portraits of Confederate figures “praises what that history was.” UGA officials said Tuesday there are no Confederate statues on the campus.
Higher Education News:
www.cosmopolitan.com
More and More Women Are Drowning in College Debt — Meet 5 of Them
Americans now carry an epic $1.4 trillion in student debt. Nearly two-thirds of that belongs to women.
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/college/a12007348/college-debt-feature-september-2017/
By Jennifer Wolff
Erika Civitarese knows about hard work — and making ends meet. As a teenager in small-town Massachusetts, she logged up to 40 hours a week at an Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop so she could afford clothes and car insurance. In her spare time, she raised money for survivors of domestic violence. Erika figured she’d keep working after high school and apply for college once she’d stockpiled enough funds for tuition. But her guidance counselor, she says, urged her not to put her future on hold. In March 2013, Erika got the letter that changed her life: The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the crown jewel of the state’s public school system, wanted her. And they were offering what looked like a near full-ride — more than $22,000 in financial aid, just shy of the school’s $23,697 yearly in-state cost. The package was a mix of a scholarship, grants, and federal loans, but the particulars didn’t really register with Erika, then 17. “I was like, cool, lots of money,” she says. “Tuition and fees, housing, and meal plans — the aid I got covered it all.” …In cases like Morgan’s, the rules seem clear-cut — keep up your GPA and keep your money. But the truth is murkier, according to the University System of Georgia’s latest data. Nearly 60 percent of HOPE scholars at UGA lose their funding, with only 19 percent of those earning it back. “An interesting thing about these scholarships is that they wouldn’t work unless a substantial number of students lost them,” says William Doyle, PhD, associate professor of public policy and higher education at Vanderbilt University. “They are designed to get people in the door. The positive is, more people go to college. The negative is, a decent number of them lose funding.” (UGA says it focuses on students’ academic success, not their finances. “We don’t look specifically at how you can retain HOPE,” says Rahul Shrivastav, PhD, the school’s vice president for instruction.) It’s not just state aid that dries up. Colleges insist they don’t front-load their own scholarships. “But look at the data that shows students get more financial aid in their first year than they do in later years,” says Sara Goldrick-Rab, PhD, author of Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream. “Some colleges are behaving badly.”