Brace for a budget squeeze. That was a main message Sonny Perdue, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, delivered to lawmakers during state budget hearings last week. Declining enrollments at most of Georgia’s 26 public colleges is leading to belt-tightening, job cuts and program realignments, which Perdue said will hurt some of the state’s smaller schools. He warned that lower birth rates will mean fewer high school graduates entering college in coming years, meaning “it’s not going to get any better for the next couple of years.” Enrollment across the University System fell by 1.8% last fall, the second straight year of decline.
