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December 3, 2008

Student fee at DSC to help with budget cuts

Health insurance premiums for staff also changed

Jamie Jones

Dalton State College students, faculty and staff — all the way up to the president — will bear the costs of an extra 2 percent budget reduction ordered by the state on Wednesday.

A “temporary” $50 fee for DSC students for the spring 2009 semester and changes to the health insurance premiums for all faculty and staff will help the college meet the 2 percent budget reduction, which is on top of a 6 percent cut for the 2009 fiscal year that was passed earlier this year. The Board of Regents approved the latest changes Wednesday.

An in-state DSC student will now pay $1,066 for spring semester tuition. Enrollment at the college is a record 4,957 students.

Chris Taylor, a DSC student from Ringgold, said Wednesday he was not aware of the $50 fee.

“That’s really not too bad,” Taylor said. “You see so many other companies struggling with layoffs and job cutbacks and you kind of expect something like this to come along.”

Beginning with the spring 2009 semester, which starts in January, all students at the University System of Georgia’s 35 colleges and universities will pay a one-semester fee. For research universities and six other universities, the fee is $100. It is $75 at most comprehensive universities and $50 at two-year and state colleges, including DSC. The fee offsets an additional $20 million in budget cuts at the institutions.

The employer contribution rate for health insurance for the system’s preferred provider organization (PPO) and health maintenance organization (HMO) health plans will be decreased from 75 percent to 70 percent, meaning premiums will increase from about $17 to $65 a month depending on the plan and number of individuals covered. The health insurance changes are expected to save the system about $8 million.

DSC has avoided job cuts so far although college officials have not filled some positions, and have delayed maintenance on some projects and decreased library purchases. DSC has an annual budget of $31.2 million. The state appropriates $15.4 million while other funds come from tuition, grants, fees, etc.

Given the new fee and health insurance tweaks, if the current economic conditions remain throughout next year and don’t worsen, DSC president John Schwenn doesn’t think the college will have to make any job cuts.

“We’re now doing all the other things in trying to make ends meet,” Schwenn said. “Totally across the board — faculty, staff and students — everybody is affected in that particular round. It’s spreading everything around to everybody.”

Earlier this year, the regents cut the university system’s budget by 6 percent ($136 million) and approved plans for additional reductions. The student fees and changes in health care plans are part of those additional moves.

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