Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed 2022 budget allocates $2.43 billion for the Board of Regents and $344 million for the Technical College System of Georgia. This budget includes money for enrollment growth but does not restore the previous year’s budget cuts.
University System of Georgia
Funding for the Teaching portion of the university system’s operating budget is set to increase by $131 million, or 6 percent, to $2.18 billion. Additions are for formula-funded increases due to enrollment growth and operating costs. About half of the proposed increase is to make up for not funding enrollment growth in the budget passed last year. However, the proposed FY 2022 budget is still $111 million less (5 percent) than the FY 2020 budget.
All other programs under the Board of Regents, like the Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension Service and Public Libraries, saw flat budgets. The proposed budget for these programs maintains $32 million in cuts (13 percent) passed last year.
Finally, the budget includes $208 million in bonds for new construction, major improvements and renovations within the university system.
Technical College System of Georgia
The proposed 2022 budget for technical colleges is $308 million. The budget adds $6.8 million, or 2 percent, to reflect a small increase in credit hours from 2019–2020. However, the proposal is still $26 million less (8 percent) than the FY 2020 budget.
Other programs under the technical college system saw flat budgets, maintaining $4 million in cuts (11 percent). These include Adult Education, which provides services for adult students with low English literacy skills or no high school diploma.
The budget includes $84 million in bonds for new construction, major improvements and renovations for technical colleges.
Georgia Student Finance Commission
The Georgia Student Finance Commission administers state funds for the REACH Georgia Scholarship and Dual Enrollment. No funding change for these programs was included for FY 2022.
The REACH Scholarship uses both public and private funds, and state appropriations stayed at $6.4 million after a $1 million increase passed last year.[1]
Dual Enrollment allows eligible high school students to take college courses at no cost to them. Funding is flat from FY 2021 at $90 million. Flat funding comes after a $12 million decrease last year, along with the passage of House Bill 444, which limited students to 30 state-funded credit hours and most courses to 11th– and 12th-graders.[2] The COVID pandemic led to decreased participation in technical colleges, where Dual Enrollment declined 20 percent from Fall 2019 to Fall 2020.[3]
Endnotes
[1] For more information about REACH Georgia, see reachga.org.
[2] For more information on Dual Enrollment changes that began July 1, 2020, see Georgia Student Finance Commission’s Dual Enrollment FAQs and information for Option B (SB 2) students.
[3] Technical College System of Georgia.
