Several actions taken by the Georgia Board of Regents this week will have impact on Tech students in years to come.
On April 18, the Regents announced that tuition for next year will increase by two percent for all schools in the University System of Georgia (USG). For an in-state, undergraduate student who is enrolled full-time, that amounts to anywhere from a $27 to $98 increase, depending on the university they attend. For graduate students, tuition will increase by 2.5 percent regardless of whether the student is in-state.
At Tech specifically, the student health fee will also be increased by $5 to a total of $165 per student per semester.
Furthermore, the student activity fee — currently $123 for both undergraduate and graduate students — will be restructured so that $83 of each fee will go towards the Campus Recreation Center (CRC) and the Student Center.
With this setup, the CRC will receive $51 of each fee and the Student Center will receive $32, leaving the rest of the fee to be appropriated towards student organizations by the Student Government Association as is essentially the case now; for all intents and purposes, this is the same distribution of funds simply split into separate fees.
The Regents also approved new construction on Tech’s campus, including a new office building and parking deck and office complex on the intersection of Dalney, 9th and Greenfield Streets.
The largest approved project, however, is the impending renovation and expansion of the Student Center. Costing approximately $111 million in total, the project would be funded in part through a new mandatory fee approved by Tech students in March 2016 as well as through other means, including state funding.
An official request for authorization to begin renovations and construction would be filed with the Board at the same time as a petition to approve the fee increase and would be contingent on the new fee’s passage.
Financing by the State of Georgia for the new Student Center would not likely occur prior to the fiscal year 2019.