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The First Lego League (FLL) Super Regionals returned to Clayton State University on January 11. This year’s version of the popular competition for region-
al young STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) whizzes ages nine to 14 was an all-day event held in Clayton State’s James M.
Baker University Center under the sponsorship of the College of Information and Mathematical Science (CIMS). Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr.
Scott Bailey directed the progam and CIMS Assistant Dean Jarrett Terry recruited volunteers for the event.
Campus Review
January 31, 2014
Page 10
While these changes are designed to
spend money more wisely and effectively
in serving the System’s more than
309,000 students, Huckaby said it’s also
important to focus on what directly affects
the pocketbooks of students and families:
tuition and fees.
“On every campus I visit a student will
share the challenges of staying in school
with higher tuition and fees, which may
be exacerbated by a job loss at home,” he
said. “Sadly, in many cases, a few hun-
dred dollars will make the difference as to
whether that student stays in school.”
Huckaby noted that since becoming chan-
cellor in July 2011, the Board of Regents
for the past two years has limited tuition
for most students to the lowest increase in
a decade (2.5 percent) and reduced the
number of mandatory fee increases from
67 in Fiscal Year 2012 to just 29 in the
current fiscal year.
The System also is undertaking vigorous
efforts to address the cost of textbooks
and working both internally and with
other higher education partners nationally
to develop and provide alternatives to stu-
dents, he said. In one example mentioned
by Huckaby, a program is saving students
$100 on an electronic history textbook.
The consolidation of eight institutions
into four new ones is complete and anoth-
er consolidation of two institutions is
underway. Huckaby said consolidation is
driven by the need to keep the focus on
the legitimate needs of students and facul-
ty. “That is the ultimate purpose of con-
solidation – move money out of adminis-
tration and into the classroom,” he said.
Online education is another fast develop-
ing and changing tool that can help broad-
en access and potentially control costs for
students. Since 2009, the number of
online courses offered by USG institu-
tions has risen from 1,571 to 4,737, an
increase of 200 percent.
In one example cited by Huckaby,
Georgia Tech is launching a MOOC
(Massive Open Online Course) graduate
degree program in computational science
that will save students two-thirds of the
cost of a traditional degree.
As part of the System’s efforts to increase
the college level attainment of Georgians,
a focus on military outreach is occurring
Huckaby, cont’d. from p. 4
Huckaby, cont’d., p. 11