With the passing of the new educational funding legislation for the University System of Georgia by Gov. Nathan Deal this week, Tech is hopefully on track to see an overall financial improvement.
This is in large part due to the large academic support network that Tech has provided for its students. The various types of tutoring, advising and mentor services have helped students to make it through their classes with passing grades. These programs have done, and continue to do, a good job providing students of every major with the academic support they need.
Traditionally consisting of a smaller student body, the reward Tech received under the old system, a system that awarded funding based on student body size rather than academic performance, was, in the past more favorable towards larger universities in the state.
Now, the new system can be seen as, rather than a solution to lack of funding that our university sees, an improvement on a older system from which we benefited less.
This is largely due to an overall rising retention and graduation rate at Tech over the past four years. If this continues to holds true within the coming years, Tech may receive more funding.
On top of that, the new legislation has said to have been particularly supportive in showing favor for the subjects of science, engineering and math. While this has not been, it is our hope that this holds true, as these are the subjects that define our university.
While this an overall good thing for our university, we hope that the offer of financial stimulation does not devalue the Tech degree. With the legislation calling for more financial aid based on graduation rates, retention rates and credit hours achieved, we as a university cannot let the lure of money diminish the value of our degrees.