University System News:
www.politics.myajc.com
Ga. high court won’t hear case for in-state tuition for DACA students
By Jeremy Redmon – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday decided against hearing a lawsuit in favor of allowing immigrants who have been granted a temporary reprieve from deportation to pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities, handing the young plaintiffs a major setback. The high court’s one-page opinion does not give a reason for refusing to take up the case. But its decision came after the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled against the lawsuit in October, reversing a lower court’s decision that said participants in the Obama era’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, should be permitted to pay in-state tuition. DACA grants two-year work permits and deportation deferrals to immigrants who were brought here illegally as children. Since DACA started in 2012, 21,600 Georgians have been accepted into the program. Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-area immigration attorney who represented the DACA recipients in Georgia’s legal case, said they would continue to “fight in the courts when possible, in the legislature when in session, and before the Board of Regents continuously, until every willing student, regardless of status, can pursue their full educational goals and desires.”
www.tiftonceo.com
General Assembly Approves $17.7M for ABAC Fine Arts Building, Carlton Renovation
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
When Governor Nathan Deal signed his name to House Bill 684 on Wednesday afternoon at the Henry Tift Myers Airport in Tifton, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College President David Bridges knew an important part of his long-range plan for the physical face of ABAC was about to kick into high gear. HB 684 is the Fiscal Year 2019 state budget which contains $17.7 million in funding for a new Fine Arts building at ABAC and rehabilitation of the Carlton Library. It’s no wonder that Bridges had a big grin on his face before the ink dried on Deal’s signature. “We have needed a Fine Arts building on this campus for a long time,” Bridges, the longest serving president among the 26 colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia, said. “Our music program is second to none, and those students deserve a first-rate facility. “The Carlton renovation will allow us to take advantage of a large space which is presently under-utilized. Moving the campus store operation to Carlton opens all kinds of possibilities. Student engagement is the name of the game.”
www.ajc.com
Tuition stable at GA colleges, but living costs going up
By Eric Stirgus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many Georgia college students got some good news when the state’s Board of Regents voted at its April meeting to not raise tuition next school year — but that doesn’t mean students won’t be paying more to go to school this fall. The cost to live on campus at most public colleges and universities is going up. The average increase is 2.5 to 3 percent for some dorms, about $50 to $100 a semester, our review of University System of Georgia data shows. That includes some of Georgia’s largest public universities, such as the University of Georgia, Georgia State and Georgia Tech. Housing costs at most dorms at Kennesaw State University, which has the third-largest enrollment in the University System, are declining next semester, by as much as 10 percent in some cases. Campus housing at some dorms in the University System is about $5,000 per semester.
www.fox28media.com
Last ever graduation for Armstrong State University students
http://fox28media.com/news/local/last-ever-graduation-for-armstrong-state-university-students
BY IAN DEMBLING
Savannah, Ga. (WTGS) — There will be many graduation ceremonies in Savannah this month, but there will never be an Armstrong State graduation ceremony again. In January, Armstrong State consolidated with Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, making the group of 800 students who walked in Friday ASU’s last ever graduating class. “And now we’re a part of Georgia Southern University, and we’ll have to be good to them, be good to the eagle,” said W Ray Persons, the commencement speaker for the 2018 graduation. …Armstrong State started as a junior college in 1935. It went through many changes over the last 82 years. Persons said he was one of the first African Americans to attend school there in the 1970’s. Tuition at that time was just $135 per quarter. Now, in-state tuition at the school is more than $24,000 per year. Some graduates said they’re glad they got to be a part of the final commencement, but say the school they know will be missed.
www.fox5atlanta.com
Georgia Southern honors slain NFL player with degree
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/georgia-southern-honors-slain-nfl-player-with-degree
STATESBORO, Ga. – A graduation on Saturday at Georgia Southern University turned into an amazing moment as the school honored an NFL player killed by a suspected drunk driver. Edwin Jackson, the late Indianapolis Colts linebacker was killed after being hit by a car while standing on the side of the road with his Uber driver. During the ceremony, Jackson’s mother and father Wesley and Mary Jackson were brought up on the stage. It was then that Georgia Southern’s College of Arts and Sciences announced that Jackson would receive an honorary Bachelors of Science degree. The crowd burst into applause while Wesley and Mary received the degree with a hug and a handshake. As they walked out. Wesley shouted out “Georgia!” The crowd as one cheered back “Southern!” …Jackson went to Georgia Southern before being signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2015.
www.myajc.com
Kennesaw State grows high-tech gaming program
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kennesaw State University senior Derek Martin was in a windowless classroom on a recent afternoon, having a blast as he stared at a computer screen. Martin, 22, was playing video games as part of his classwork. More specifically, he was playing video games he created. His friends, Martin said of his studies, think it’s very cool. Martin is one of 417 students majoring in the university’s Computer Game Design and Development program. The program had two dozen students when it began in the fall of 2009. KSU employs six full-time professors and offers 11 courses in the field. More colleges and universities are creating video game design classes or programs as the industry grows along with student interest. A few dozen colleges nationwide have even developed teams that compete in video games (eSports) and some offer scholarships to gamers. About two dozen colleges and universities in Georgia offer courses or laboratories for students to hone their game design skills, according Andrew Greenberg, president of the Georgia Game Developers Association. That’s double the total reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a decade ago. Georgia Tech and the Savannah College of Art & Design have programs that are consistently ranked as some of the nation’s best. Greenberg is pleased with the growth, but hopes more Georgia colleges develop graduate degree programs in gaming.
www.politics.myajc.com
KSU denies it will turn away unauthorized immigrants and apologizes
By Jeremy Redmon and Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kennesaw State University on Friday denied that it will begin turning away student applicants who don’t have legal status in the United States, while apologizing for miscommunicating about its plans. “Unfortunately, we have miscommunicated regarding (University System of Georgia) admissions policy and how KSU’s academic requirements impact fall 2018 admissions,” KSU interim President Ken Harmon said in a statement sent to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. KSU declined to say precisely how, when and where the miscommunication occurred. KSU issued its statement after students and staff members began posting concerns about the university’s admissions policies on Facebook this week. One post from a KSU employee said the university would begin turning away unauthorized immigrants in the fall of 2020 to comply with the controversial Georgia Board of Regents Policy 4.1.6.
www.tiftongazette.com
Mock, Parris finish first in ABAC research symposium
TIFTON – Cody Mock, a wildlife major from Coolidge, and Kyle Parris, a wildlife major from Cleveland, captured the top prize in the “Lightning Talk” presentations during the recent Student Engagement Programs (STEPS) symposium at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Mock and Parris spoke on their research on “Late Winter and Spring Roost Ecology of Rafinesque’s Big-Eared Bat.” They received mentored support from Dr. Vanessa Lane and Dr. Jason Scott. Hannah King, a biology major from Tifton, won first place in the symposium poster competition with her research on the “Physiological Comparisons Observed Between Alternanthera philoxeroides (Alligator Weed) and Nasturtium officinale (Watercress.)” She worked closely with Dr. Christopher Beals in her research project. Thirty-two students who represented all four schools of study at ABAC and eight different majors participated in the symposium by conducting research with assistance from experienced professors.
Higher Education News:
www.washingtonpost.com
The financial forecast for colleges is gloomy. How can they weather the storm?
By Jeffrey J. Selingo
As another academic year winds down on campuses nationwide, the news about the financial underpinning of colleges and universities keeps getting worse. Two studies out in the past week show that key revenue sources at public and private universities continue to shrink without any immediate signs of slowing. The first comes from a study that shows states have increased spending on public welfare programs since 1987 at the expense of public higher education, the only major budget category to see a decline since then. Medicaid is the single biggest cause of the decline in higher education spending at the state and local levels, said the study’s author, Doug Webber, an associate professor of economics at Temple University. Webber found that since 1987, average state and local spending on public welfare has increased from about $645 per resident to $1,930 per resident in 2015, about what states spend on K-12 education. Meanwhile, spending on higher education remained flat in the same period, at about $250 per resident. As a result, the rising cost of operating public colleges has been passed on to students through higher tuition. College students and their families, who a little more than a decade ago paid for about one-third of the cost of their education at a public university, now pay for most of it in about half of the states.