Regents Adopt New Policies on Undocumented Students

A final report presented today to the Board of Regents finds that only 501 undocumented students – all paying out-of-state tuition – are among the 310,000 students enrolled in University System of Georgia (USG) institutions this fall. While the numbers are small, beginning in fall 2011, all applicants will undergo new steps designed to strengthen the ability of USG institutions to properly classify students for tuition purposes.

These steps are outlined in four recommendations by the Residency Verification Committee approved today by the Board of Regents. They will go into effect for the fall 2011 semester. These include:

The addition of language on all applications that outlines the legal penalties for “false swearing,” or knowingly providing incorrect information on the forms. USG officials indicate this will better educate individuals about the process of applying to college.

The addition of language on all applications that, for the first time, will require applicants to state whether they are seeking in-state tuition. This will help institutions in making a decision on whether or not additional residency verification is necessary.

A policy requirement that USG institutions verify the lawful presence in the United States of any applicant that is admitted. Students who note they are seeking in-state tuition will, if not applying for federal financial aid (which has its own stringent verification processes), be subject to additional verification by the institution.

A policy that any person not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible for admission to any USG institution which, for the two most recent academic years, did not admit all academically qualified applicants.

“We are an educational agency in the business of preparing individuals for careers requiring knowledge and skills; we are not in the immigration business, nor are we equipped to serve as the immigration authorities,” said Regent James Jolly, who chaired the Residency Verification Committee. “However, these new policies do strengthen our ability to ensure proper tuition classification for all students – a process and a commitment the System has undertaken and met since being formed in 1931.”

Jolly noted that the committee, formed by former Board Chair Robert Hatcher in June, sought to address three concerns: that the University System was being swamped by thousands of undocumented students, that Georgia taxpayers were subsidizing the education of these students through in-state tuition, and that undocumented students were taking seats in college from academically qualified Georgians.

“The review of all students over the summer by our institutions answers the first two concerns,” Jolly said in his report of the committee’s work to the regents. He said that the review found only 501 undocumented students enrolled in the system, with all paying out-of-state tuition, which is set at the full cost of instruction. “Every student paying out-of-state tuition actually covers more than the cost of instruction,” Jolly said.

“The fact that we have so few undocumented students and that at present, all are properly classified for tuition purposes, shows that our admissions departments are doing their job, and doing it quite well,” Jolly said. He said the review shows the USG’s admissions processes are quite strong, even prior to the implementation of the new recommendations approved by the board.

The third concern, that undocumented students deny seats to qualified Georgians, is addressed by the policy denying admission to undocumented students at institutions that have to turn away academically qualified, legal residents. “Only five institutions fall into this category, with 27 undocumented students enrolled this fall,” said Jolly. The five are Georgia College & State University, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia.

The committee’s work follows that of an audit on residency and tuition conducted by the Georgia State Audit Department two years ago. That audit found that the vast majority of students – both domestic and foreign – were properly classified for tuition purposes. However, USG institutions adopted more stringent guidelines for admissions procedures following that audit, and these new recommendations add yet another layer of verification.

The issue of undocumented students attending USG institutions jumped into the headlines this summer as part of the ongoing national and state discussion on illegal immigrants, sparked in Georgia by the case of an undocumented student at Kennesaw State University. Consequently the regents and Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. ordered an internal review process of USG admissions of both current and new students.

The Residency Verification Committee was formed and charged to oversee the review of student tuition classification and to develop and propose any needed recommendations to the full board. In addition to Jolly, other members of the committee were regents Larry R. Ellis, Felton Jenkins, William “Dink” NeSmith Jr., and Larry Walker; four USG presidents, including Dr. Mark Becker (Georgia State University), Dr. Virginia Carson (South Georgia College), Dr. Martha Nesbitt (Gainesville State College), and Dr. Lisa Rossbacher (Southern Polytechnic State University) and University System Office staff members John Fuchko, chief audit officer, Burns Newsome, vice chancellor, Legal Affairs and secretary to the board, Amanda Seals, executive director for Government Affairs and Mendi Spencer, chief of staff for Academic Affairs.

The University System follows current federal and state laws, which allows for undocumented individuals to be enrolled, if academically qualified. Such students cannot receive any federal or state benefits. In-state tuition, which is subsidized by the state, is such a benefit, and thus undocumented students must pay out-of-state tuition, which is set at least at the full cost of instruction.


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Regents Approve $2.1 Billion Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request

A $2.1 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget request approved today (Aug 10) by the University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents includes new dollars to meet year over year student enrollment growth of 18,914 students.

“This budget request mirrors the times,” said USG Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. “We are focusing our efforts and our budget request on our core mission of teaching, research and service and the need to serve the continued and significant increase in enrollment at our 35 degree-granting institutions.”

The biggest driver of the regents’ request is a 7.8 percent increase from FY09 to FY10 in the credit hours students took. This increase generated $145 million of the FY12 budget request. Almost 45 percent of this increase occurred at the System’s 16 two-year and state colleges, with the 15 four-year universities accounting for 35 percent of the credit hour increase and the four research universities 20 percent.

“Individuals are continuing to turn to higher education to prepare them for an increasingly competitive workplace,” said Vice Chancellor for Fiscal Affairs Usha Ramachandran. “And our enrollment trends indicate that many of these students are enrolling at our access colleges and four-year universities, where we can serve them with greater efficiency.”

Additional new dollars in the regents’ requested budget include, in addition to the $145 million for student growth:

$8.7 million to maintain and operate new facilities in the system;
$18 million for health benefits premium increases; and
$4.9 million for health insurance for new retirees.
The regents continue to place a strategic priority on the expansion of medical education, with a FY12 budget request of $1.7 million to accommodate the second class of students at the Medical College of Georgia/University of Georgia partnership campus in Athens and to create a clinical campus in Rome. The inaugural class of 40 students at the MCG Athens campus started classes in August 2010.

The regents also approved a FY12 capital budget request of $432.3 million, which includes $1 million in equipment for one new facility, $190 million in new construction, renovation or infrastructure needs for 16 projects, $9 million in design funds for 4 projects, $215.1 million for major repair and renovation funds at all 35 campuses as well as construction to two additional projects, and $17.2 million for Georgia Public Library Service projects.

Following instructions from the Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) to all state agencies, the Board also approved reduction plans of 4, 6 and 8 percent ($77, $115 and $154 million respectively) for the current fiscal year (FY11). Any reduction plans adopted this fiscal year carry forward into FY12. The board also approved, as instructed, a 10 percent reduction plan for FY12, which, if enacted, would bring the USG’s reductions over the combined FY11 and FY12 budgets to a total of $192 million.

“Clearly we continue to be affected by the economic recession and the corresponding decline in state tax revenues,” said Ramachandran. “The instructions from the Governor’s office for additional reduction plans in the current fiscal year and continuing into FY12 dramatize the magnitude of the state’s revenue challenges.”

Ramachandran noted in her board presentation that if the System were to receive the full $2.1 billion requested and then had to implement the full 10 percent reduction in FY12, it would result in a total state appropriation below that of FY07. “But in FY07 we enrolled 259,945 students, while in FY12 we project to enroll 321,000 students – 61,000 more than in FY07.”

Currently, the System already is operating under a 4 percent reduction plan ($77 million) as the state withholds that percentage from all state agencies monthly allotments.

To reach the reduction targets, the USG will employ a range of institutional and system-level actions, Ramachandran said. At the institutional level, these actions include structural changes in operations, workforce reductions, hiring freezes, a decline in maintenance and a reduction in library subscriptions, books and hours. At higher reduction levels, courses and programs will be affected.

At the 10 percent level, Ramachandran said a combination of some of the following actions will be considered: an analysis of enrollment capacity at selected institutions, restrictions on learning support for students, and a review of all institutional fees. In addition, she said, there would be additional reductions at the institutional level.

The board also has approved new employee health plans to further reduce costs. These include the self-funding of the System’s HMO and high deductible plans, a tobacco surcharge, a new, alternative and less expensive PPO network, a requirement for all retirees at age 65 to pay the full premium costs if they do not select Medicare as the primary health care provider, and continued financial incentives for employees to switch to the high deductible plan. Together, these changes could save the System up to $30 million annually in health care costs.

Today’s (Aug 10) actions on the FY12 operating and capital budget requests now go to OPB for incorporation into the overall state budget recommendations the Governor will present to the General Assembly in January 2011. Any action regarding reductions at the 4, 6, 8 and 10 percent levels will depend upon the final decisions by the Governor and General Assembly.



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Atlanta Leaders Announce New Early Education Initiative

/PRNewswire/ -- After 18 months of study, the Early Education Commission (EEC) has issued strategic recommendations for improving access to quality early education for children ages zero to five across metro Atlanta, and ultimately the state.

The recommendations lay out a multi-year plan for assuring consistently high-quality early learning - with Georgia ultimately becoming a national leader in ensuring that children enter kindergarten ready to learn and on a path to "read to learn" by third grade. "Read to learn" refers to a reading skill level necessary for a third-grader to learn at an age-appropriate pace and become a successful student.

Stephanie Blank, Trustee of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, will chair the governing board of the Georgia Coalition for Early Education (GCEE), a new, independent successor group to the EEC that will offer strategic assistance to existing providers, funders and stakeholders in early learning and care. A national search is being launched for an executive director of the coalition.

"The key to Georgia's future economic prosperity and social well-being lies in the care and education of our youngest children," said Ms. Blank, who served on the EEC. "There is ongoing advocacy and quality improvement work in metro Atlanta and the state: our goal is to move early learning to the top of the public agenda and broaden the scope and reach of those efforts."

Co-chaired by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta CEO Dennis Lockhart and Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., the EEC assembled in the fall of 2008 to investigate the impact of early learning on the short- and long-term economic health of metro Atlanta. The commission learned from nationally renowned experts in the early education field, studied research, assessed the state of early learning in the metro area and state, and identified opportunities for improvement.

"It is essential that children be ready to learn when they enter kindergarten - we know brain development in a child's early years charts a course for success over a lifetime," said Dr. Tatum. "We also know that there is more to school readiness than being ready to read - social, emotional and other cognitive milestones are important, and the EEC's recommendations address all of those."

In addition to the neuroscience aspects of early childhood education, EEC members learned about the positive return on investment early intervention provides versus the exponential cost of remediation, and the importance quality centers and trained educators play in these outcomes.

Said Dennis Lockhart, "Beyond the intrinsic social value, investing in early education is just the smart thing to do. Research clearly shows that early interventions have better rates of return than do traditional economic development projects."

Consistent with the commission's recommendations, the GCEE will focus on four main areas:

-- Improve Quality - for both center-based and home-based early care and
education.
-- Enhance Parental involvement - supporting families with the tools and
resources needed to provide quality learning experiences.
-- Increase Public Awareness - to raise awareness of how quality early
learning experiences impact a child's long-term success.
-- Intensify Advocacy - for increased quality, accessibility and
affordability of early childhood care and education.

"This commission has recommended vital next steps that will significantly support and enhance ongoing efforts in our state," said Holly Robinson, Commissioner of Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. "Helping parents identify and assure quality early education is critically important for their children and for Georgia. And Stephanie Blank is a brilliant choice as chair of the coalition; she is a greatly respected community leader who researches, understands and is devoted to this issue."

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Georgia adopts new federal guidance on school closures

The Department of Human Resources (DHR), Division of Public Health (GDPH) has adopted newly released federal guidance regarding schools and childcare closures as it relates to the novel H1N1 influenza virus.

The CDC’s updated guidelines do not advise school closure for suspected or confirmed cases of H1N1 unless there is a magnitude of faculty or student absenteeism that interferes with the school’s ability to function.

Based on CDC’s revised guidelines, GDPH has notified the Georgia High School Association and the headmaster at Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy in Henry County to recommend the school resume classes. GDPH continues to recommend any student or staff with flu-like symptoms stay home.

DHR Division of Public Health reported two additional confirmed cases of novel H1N1 novel virus today.

"The third Georgia case is a three-year old patient and the fourth case is a 36-year-old pregnant woman who is resting at home,” said Dr. Sandra Elizabeth Ford, Acting Director of the Division of Public Health. “Neither of these cases required hospitalization. Both patients are following treatment prescribed by their doctors”

Most people can recuperate from H1N1 novel virus at home just as with seasonal flu. Like seasonal flu, the H1N1 novel virus in humans can vary in severity from mild to severe.

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