University students are taking matters into their own hands.

Mehul Patel, a political science major from Grayson, voices his opinion at the SGA budget cut discussion Wednesday night in South PJ. Photo by Jackie Reedy

At last night’s meeting regarding the student response to the University’s proposed budget reductions, more than 200 students exchanged ideas and asked for clarification concerning the $60 million budget cut proposal released earlier this week, but one thing was clear — the students’ priorities are classes, the integrity of their degrees and jobs.  

“A lot of states have students on their Board of Regents, but we don’t have one student on the board,” said Student Government Association President Katie Barlow.

On March 15, students from universities across the state will travel with their student governments to the state capitol building in Atlanta to voice their concerns about the $300 million budget cuts facing the University System of Georgia. 

As of last night, more than 23,000 students had signed petitions opposing the budget cuts, and about 100 University students had signed up to go to the state capitol on March 15. But Barlow said that 100 is not enough to represent a school of the University’s size. In order to reserve a seat on the SGA buses traveling to the rally, students must RSVP at uga.edu/sga by Friday.

Barlow said if students oppose such budget cuts, they need to be willing to bring a proposal of their own to the state legislators, even if that means making a personal sacrifice. 

“We know that the economic crisis is difficult,” Barlow said. “However, a tuition increase is not out of the question, particularly for this institution and for the quality and for the caliber of education that we get here. As students, we have to offer something, and a logical thing right now is a tuition increase.” 

Barlow did not want to assign a number to the proposed tuition increase, so she said “a modest tuition increase is respectable.” But a tuition increase is yet another burden on some students who are having difficulties affording the University.

“If they raise tuition by 20 to 30 percent, a lot of people won’t be able to afford it, and I won’t be able to afford to come here because I’m out of state,” said Victoria Demello, a freshman from Gastonia, N.C. Demello said the University should look to other resources it has available rather than cut necessary programs. 

“The Athletic Association wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for the University, so they should support us,” Demello said.

Some of the other students’ suggestions included making the HOPE Scholarship means-based as well as merit-based, selling advertising space around campus and turning off lights in unused buildings. Both Barlow and SGA Vice President Cameron Secord wrote down the ideas and welcomed students to ask questions after the meeting was over.

According to a column Barlow wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in addition to a tuition increase, a few “bulleted” items on the proposal will include reducing administrators’ six-figure salaries by 10 percent, suspending state funding for the $750,000 renovation of University President Michael Adams’ mansion and further separating the University Athletic Association and the coach’s salaries from state funding.

“In 1785, the Legislature created the first state-chartered university in America, setting a precedent for all future public institutions of higher learning,” Barlow wrote in the column. “It is our hope that these difficult times will not dilute the standards of education that have been such an integral part of Georgia’s history.” 

Though Barlow said the University should focus equally on the different groups affected by the cuts, including faculty and staff, she said students also would feel the cuts.

“It’s really important that the student image gets put on this story,” Barlow said. “It’s about jobs, faculty, staff and the state budget, but it’s fundamentally about the students.”