Tough financial times could be ahead for the University System of Georgia, Chancellor Sonny Perdue said before a joint budget committee last week.

“We will commit to you that we’re going to do our level best to do more with less,” he said. “It’s not gonna get any better for the next couple of years either.”

Perdue told lawmakers the formula the state government uses to calculate its share of money for the university is primarily based on the cost to educate students, with total credit hours from two years prior as the main input. But enrollment is down at most of the system’s 26 universities. Only Augusta University, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, the University of Georgia and Georgia Southwestern State University saw enrollment increases between fall 2016 and fall 2022. The rest saw enrollment decline.

Fewer students means fewer credit hours and less money to pay for operation costs. “Our system is built on continuous climbing, climbing, climbing, and now we see with enrollment decline, that brings more challenges here based on the formula,” Perdue said.


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https://flagpole.com/featured/2023/01/23/with-enrollment-falling-chancellor-sonny-perdue-warns-of-layoffs-in-higher-ed/