The Biden campaign won the support of many voters with its plan to reduce student loan debt.
Now that candidate Joe Biden is President Joe Biden, pressure is mounting on him to produce on his campaign pledge. Georgia ranks in the top 10 of states in average student loan debt and the number of borrowers, according to federal data.
Here’s a little more about that and some other issues on the higher education front in this version of AJC On Campus.
Student loan changes?
Congressional Democrats are pushing President Biden to cancel student loan debt. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia last week joined a Democrat-backed resolution urging Biden to use his authority to broadly cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower to alleviate the financial challenges many are facing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden administration said last week it is studying its options.
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
Meanwhile, the Biden administration said COVID-19 emergency relief measures will be extended on federally-owned federal student loans through Sept. 30.
Legislative update
A group of statehouse Democrats, led by Rep. David Wilkerson in Cobb County, introduced legislation last week that would no longer require most students surpass a specific score on the ACT or SAT to be eligible for a Zell Miller Scholarship. Wilkerson said last year he would introduce a bill during this legislative session, saying a student’s high school academic performance should carry more weight than a three-hour exam. House Bill 283 still includes the ACT/SAT requirements for students being homeschooled.
In other news at the Capitol, the state Senate’s Higher Education committee heard about Republican Sen. Brandon Beach’s proposal to change how most Georgia Board of Regents members are elected. The committee also heard a little bit about a bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Lester Jackson that would help Georgia’s three public historically Black universities — Albany State, Fort Valley State and Savannah State — enroll more out-of-state students.
UGA’s COVID numbers down
The University of Georgia released data Wednesday showing 115 positive COVID-19 cases in a recent seven-day stretch, the lowest number of new cases since Thanksgiving. UGA had some of the highest positive cases in the nation during the early months of the pandemic. University officials have been more aggressive in encouraging students and employees to get tested. UGA has averaged about 2,500 COVID-19 tests a week since the new year.
State board lowers 529 Plan fees
The Georgia Higher Education Savings Plan Board, chaired by Gov. Brian Kemp, approved lowering the state’s Path2College program fees by nearly 70%, Kemp’s office announced last week. The program lets parents save money for their children to pay for college. Kemp’s office said the reductions are a result of a decision to waive the state’s administrative fee and award a new lower cost contract to TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc., the plan’s program manager. The program fees fell from 0.13% to 0.04% as of Jan. 1, state officials said.
University System budget update
University System of Georgia officials on Tuesday gave the state Board of Regents an update on its finances through the first six months of the current fiscal year. Total revenues are down by nearly $250 million, a 4% decline from this time last fiscal year. The biggest decline is in auxiliary enterprises (student housing, dining and other such fees) which is down about $141 million. System officials noted its 26 colleges and universities will soon get a financial boost from federal stimulus funds approved in December. The system is also anticipating more help from Gov. Brian Kemp, who has proposed adding $70 million to the system in the state’s amended 2021 fiscal year budget.
Diversity & Inclusion news
Last year’s nationwide protests against systemic racism and police misconduct prompted several Georgia colleges and universities to look inward at their diversity and inclusion practices. In recent days, a few have announced some plans on that front. They include:
- Kennesaw State University on Monday announced the Georgia Power Foundation has provided a grant to support its ongoing effort to train more Black men to become teachers.
- Oglethorpe University on Tuesday named Laura Renée Chandler as first vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Her role will include programming, training and development, curricular initiatives, and recruitment and retention of faculty, staff and students.
- Georgia Gwinnett College said Wednesday it is working on a series of initiatives to improve its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
- Agnes Scott College announced Thursday efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion internally and will provide a progress report at the end of the year.
Georgia State faculty create new group to address diversity issues
A group of Georgia State University faculty members last week announced they’ve created a group called “Faculty of the African Diaspora Association” to address equity and diversity issues “through advocacy, networking, mentorship, and engagement with surrounding communities.” The group’s goals include working on ways for Georgia State to improve in these areas with its next president. State leaders are conducting a search for a new president to replace Mark Becker, who’s leaving later this year. Georgia State has the largest enrollment in Georgia, with nearly 55,000 students. University leaders have said they are working on efforts to improve racial and gender diversity in its workforce.
HBCU reports
There’ve been a couple of reports in recent days with some interesting findings concerning Historically Black Colleges & Universities, particularly about a few in Georgia.
An affordability report by Student Loan Hero found Spelman and Morehouse colleges, both in Atlanta, had the highest and second-highest in-state tuitions, $29,972 and $28,847, respectively of any HBCU surveyed.
Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell said in a detailed statement it has raised over $100 million in new financial aid in the past three years; lowered the cost of attendance; and will launch an initiative this year that will subsidize operations to ease the financial burden on students. “Spelman is not a rich school; we do not have the multibillion dollar endowments of the colleges that are our academic competitors. For a private college, our tuition is modest,” said Campbell, noting the college’s 76% six-year graduation rate, the highest of any HBCU.
Morehouse said in a statement the tuition rates aren’t an accurate measure of affordability “because it does not recognize scholarships and other forms of aid and assistance that the majority of our students take advantage of in order to financially support their educational investment, including assistance opportunities unique to Morehouse.”
In a separate report, the finance company Moody’s did an analysis that found federal coronavirus relief packages will result in an economic benefit of about $1.5 billion to HBCUs, the equivalent of nearly 20% of expenses across the sector. The analysis, though, noted that HBCUs continue to face revenue challenges because they enroll a larger percentage of low-income students. There are nine accredited HBCUs in Georgia.
Emory to increase tuition
Emory, the state’s largest private university, last week announced it’s raising tuition for the 2021-22 school year.
Here are some details from the university’s website:
Tuition for undergraduate enrolled students in Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Goizueta Business School, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Oxford College was increased by 3%, from $53,070 to $54,660. The combined undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board was set at $71,771 from $69,440, an overall increase of 3.4 percent. Tuition for the university’s graduate and professional school programs increased on average by 2-3%.
UGA’s volcano research
The University of Georgia is spreading the word about some explosive research it conducted with two Swiss universities. They found a link between carbon dioxide and the volume of gas trapped in magma, which could help predict the intensity and magnitude of a volcanic eruption. The findings could one day lead to better early-warning systems for people who live in the vicinity of volcanoes, UGA said. The results were published in Terra Nova, a peer-reviewed geology and planetary science journal.
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