University System News:
The Augusta Chronicle
Funding Workforce Development Across Georgia
State Rep. Jon Burns Special to the Telephone
Friends,
College and graduate students across the state are now back on campus and in class. The House Republican Caucus prioritizes supporting our state colleges, universities, and technical schools to ensure that Georgia students receive a quality affordable education and that our workforce is robust. The budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year, which went into effect on July 1 this year, includes $58.9 million for the University System of Georgia. As part of serving Georgia students well, the USG will not increase tuition or mandatory student fees for the 2021-2022 academic year. The continued commitment to funding our colleges and universities and keeping tuition rates affordable allows Georgia students to receive a high-quality education after completing high school while keeping the cost low for students and their families.
Times Georgian
Feeding the Hungry: UWG Alumnus, USDA Leader Gives Back in Appreciation for Alma Mater
By Sam Gentry UWG
Sometimes the most interesting journeys in life aren’t planned. For University of West Georgia alumnus Terry Gunnell ’85, following his instincts and working hard have given him a life he would never have imagined. Currently a deputy regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Gunnell has journeyed far in his career, and he attributes much of his great success to the strong foundation he received as a student at UWG.
WFXG
Local healthcare professionals express concern over rising COVID-19 cases
By Hannah Cotter
The state of Georgia has reported more than 90,000 new COVID cases over the last two weeks. Today, there were 6,836 confirmed cases, 445 hospitalizations and 86 deaths. Dr. Phillip Coule with the Augusta University Health System says although COVID numbers are rising, they aren’t quite as high as they were during last year’s peak. But there is a growing number of pediatric patients which raises concerns as the school year starts back up. Dr. Coule says most children who test positive typically end up being ok, but there are some instances in which they become very sick and need to be hospitalized. “They also expose their parents which tend to be in an age range that may have escaped the previous [COVID-19 strain] but unfortunately with this version become critically ill,” he says.
U.S. News & World Report
Oxygen Supplies Grow Precarious Amid COVID Surge
The COVID-19 surge is stretching oxygen supplies tight and sending hospitals scrambling for more ventilators, even as there are glimmers of hope in some hotspots.
By Associated Press
The COVID-19 surge is stretching oxygen supplies and sending hospitals scrambling for more ventilators, even as there are signs of hope that the spread of the virus is slowing down in pockets of the U.S. …There is some good news, however. The country is averaging 155,000 new infections a day, but the caseload trajectory has slowed down dramatically from earlier in August. …Georgia and Oklahoma have emerged as new spots where hospital and state leaders are sounding alarm about the lack of capacity and supplies. COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are on the cusp of surpassing January peaks in Georgia as hospitals fretted Monday that the delta variant of the respiratory illness threatens to suck some Georgia hospitals dry of medical oxygen, a key treatment for people struggling to breathe. Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order calling up as many as another 1,500 National Guard soldiers to help short-staffed hospitals with nonmedical jobs, on top of the 1,000 previously authorized. Augusta University Medical Center has ordered 12 more ventilators to deal with the surge. The hospital was treating 122 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, pushing its overall hospital census to a record of 501 patients.
The George-Anne
Op-Ed: USG’s COVID Response Should Focus on Vaccines and Personal Health
Mask mandates and mass-shutdowns are less effective and more intrusive
Duncan Sligh, Co-Editor-in-Chief
USG guidelines regarding COVID-19 regulations for the fall semester have been measured but broad. Most updates from Georgia Southern or from USG recommend a variety of actions students can take to slow the spread of the Delta variant of the virus, nothing has been made mandatory, with some exceptions regarding the medical center and shuttling services. Based on data regarding hospitalization rates of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, and due to the ineffectual trickle-down of information from the CDC and DPH, USG should shift their messaging and focus on student vaccinations and the physical health of the students. … I’m having a difficult time accepting these recommendations for a variety of reasons. For one, it’s somewhat disconcerting to observe the chain of command responsible for Georgia Southern’s messaging surrounding COVID. Brian Deloach’s July 30 COVID update states, “Per state and University System of Georgia (USG) guidance, we cannot require the vaccine…” confirming that Georgia Southern University’s regulations or lack thereof are dependent on USG’s guidelines. USG’s website indicates that their recommendations are based on data provided primarily by Georgia’s Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) USG encouraging masks and vaccines hardly differs from the CDC’s recommendations. These hand-me-down recommendations bother me because they seem careful not to offend anybody who disagrees with them, and because it makes national data seem more relevant to us than regional or local data.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Aug. 31)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED CASES: 1,091,007
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 19,680 | This figure does not include additional cases that the DPH reports as suspected COVID-19-related deaths. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia vaccination efforts once faced hesitance — now it’s hostile resistance
By Greg Bluestein
Dr. John Cowan cut a lonely figure at a recent Republican rally in northwest Georgia. Not only because a few months earlier he had lost a GOP primary to Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman serving as the event’s headliner, but because he was offering conservative activists coronavirus vaccines. And there were no takers in the crowd of hundreds. As Cowan roamed the open-air pavilion trying to drum up interest, Greene and other Republicans on stage railed against mask mandates and vaccine requirements. The Floyd Medical Center staffers working the mobile clinic outside the rally, he said, were targeted with “snide” remarks from attendees. Not a single shot was administered. The hostility toward the vaccination effort was no isolated incident. Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state’s top health official, said for the first time this week that Georgians aligned with the anti-vaccination movement disrupted several recent inoculation drives — and forced one to shut down entirely.
accessWDUN
Georgia sets new high for COVID-19 cases as kids hit hard
By Associated Press
More Georgians are being diagnosed with COVID-19 than ever before, as the state passed its previous January high for positive tests Tuesday. The rolling seven-day average for positive COVID-19 tests rose to 9,641 per day Tuesday, topping the previous Jan. 11 high of 9,635, according to Georgia Department of Public Health figures. Infections continue to rise as more schools send children home to learn remotely.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia hospitals in crisis as COVID patient load sets records
By Carrie Teegardin, Ariel Hart
Steep trendlines suggest surge still raging, creating untenable conditions in hospitals
Patients seriously ill with COVID-19 are now taking up a third of all Georgia hospital beds — a pandemic record. Adult ventilator use has far outpaced the previous peak in January. The state’s official count of COVID-19 patients in Georgia’s hospitals on Tuesday was just below the January peak number, but at times it has swelled past it. And every hospital across Georgia is now full to the point of overflowing. Some have seen their COVID numbers drop, but that’s in large part because patients are dying.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
How COVID-19 Changed College Admissions
Common App finds colleges delayed deadlines and students were later with applications.
By Scott Jaschik
The Common Application has been releasing information on the more than one million people who applied to the 900-plus colleges in its system throughout the last year. And many educators have worried about the impact of the pandemic on admissions. Now, with the semester under way at most institutions, the Common App has turned to looking at its data and asking whether the changes of the last year are likely to remain or disappear once the pandemic ends. A major change — on which the Common App previously reported — is that relatively few people submitted SAT or ACT scores. The number in March was 44 percent, compared to 77 percent the previous year. The Common App’s next report will have more details.
Inside Higher Ed
Aid Verification Will Return to Normal for 2022-23
By Alexis Gravely
The Department of Education will not be targeting its federal aid verification process for the 2022-23 award year, ending a temporary change put into place during the COVID-19 pandemic to alleviate challenges students face in accessing financial aid. The verification process — which requires a subset of federal student aid applicants to submit additional documentation verifying information on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid — will continue as it was prior to the pandemic, according to a Federal Register notice announcing information to be verified for the 2022-23 award year. The usual process often adds additional burdens for students, especially those who are low income or students of color.
Inside Higher Ed
Protecting Tuition in Uncertain Times
Stringent tuition refund policies at colleges and universities have led to students and their families purchasing tuition insurance, in case COVID-19 forces them to withdraw from the academic term.
By Alexis Gravely
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the Delta variant continuing to sow uncertainty about the future, companies offering tuition insurance have seen a spike in business, as many students and their families are looking to safeguard their investment in higher education. “We’ve seen almost four times growth in the business in two years,” said John Fees, co-founder and CEO of GradGuard, a company that offers tuition insurance. “We are seeing record numbers of purchase rates, and we’re paying a lot of claims. More students and more universities are adopting the program.” Most colleges and universities don’t offer students refunds on their tuition if they have to withdraw from the semester after a certain number of weeks have passed. That’s where tuition insurance comes in — it provides reimbursement for the cost when a student can’t complete an academic term due to an unforeseen, covered circumstance. Illnesses are usually considered justified reasons for reimbursement, but circumstances such as a college choosing to switch from in-person to virtual classes are not.
Diverse Issues In Higher Education
Research Finds Transfer Enrollment Drops as Disparities Grow Deeper Over the Pandemic Year
Hayley Zhao
The latest report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) shows a significant decline in transfer student enrollment by 8.4 percent. Higher education institutions across America lost over 190,000 transfer students in the last year alone. The drop is especially significant in lateral transfers when students transfer from one two-year college to another, or from one four-year college to another, and reverse transfers when students transfer from a four year into a two-year college.
Inside Higher Ed
No ‘Party School’ Ranking? Blame COVID-19
By Scott Jaschik
Each year when The Princeton Review releases its rankings of colleges, it captures the most attention with its ranking of the top “party school.” The ranking comes from student surveys on the popularity of fraternities and sororities and alcohol and drugs on their campus and the number of hours the students report they study each day (outside class time). This year, there were many cases where campuses were closed (except for online education), and conducting regular surveys was impossible. So The Princeton Review didn’t attempt to organize a ranking of party schools. But Robert Franek, editor in chief, said the lists should return next year.