Some 20,000 to 30,000 students are being removed each year from the rolls of Georgia's state universities and technical colleges for unpaid bills, participants at a high-level forum here learned. In many cases, the balances are less than $1,000.
 
These "purges" from the University of Georgia System and Technical College System of Georgia will make it extremely difficult for the state to meet its goal of producing an additional 250,000 residents with postsecondary credentials by 2025. The state's target, set by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2011, is in addition to the number of postsecondary credentials residents were already on track to earn.

To date, an additional 75,000 Georgians have earned credentials from USG and TCSG institutions, leaving 175,000 degrees or certificates to go in the next 10 years - or 17,500 per year - to meet the Complete College Georgia goal.

"Many of our students are on the cusp, financially, of not being able to go forward," said Hank Huckaby, the chancellor of the University System of Georgia. "We have instances where they are a tire blowout away from having to drop out of school. Those stories are real and they are compounded multiple times throughout our system."

"Forum on the Future: Georgia's Workforce Pipeline, College Affordability and the Impact of Need-Based Financial Aid," at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, was co-sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. Lumina Foundation's Strategy Labs provided a technical assistance grant to support the gathering.
 
"When it comes to postsecondary success in Georgia, money matters," Jamie Merisotis, the president and chief executive officer of Lumina Foundation, said at the forum. Problems with college affordability in Georgia are "taking a toll on the ability of the entire state to compete and to move forward. Georgia needs the talent of all its citizens and there's more to be done to unlock and develop all of that talent."
 
Georgia is one of two states (along with New Hampshire) that offers no need-based aid. The state ranks 35th nationally in college affordability, according to the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
 
The state's well-known HOPE scholarship is merit-based and "disproportionately out of reach for students of modest means," according to a recent report by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Thirty percent of low-income students in the university system receive either HOPE or Zell Miller (a larger merit-based award with more stringent requirements) scholarships, compared to 42 percent of students from middle- and upper-income families, although low-income students make up 48 percent of undergraduate enrollment.  
 
The average amount owed by students who are purged from the rolls of both the state's university system and technical colleges is $1,600.
 
There are bright spots, such as Georgia State University's Panther Grant Program, which provides micro-grants to enable more students to stay in school and graduate. But much more needs to be done, the speakers at the forum said.
 
"We have hundreds and hundreds for whom the amount is just a few hundred dollars," said Timothy M. Renick, the vice provost and vice president for enrollment management and success at Georgia State University. "We need different models, and we're smart enough to create different models that work for students."

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta administers a new scholarship program funded by the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation. The Achieve Atlantascholarship is a need-based award for Atlanta Public School graduates who qualify for Pell grants (small federal awards for low-income postsecondary students). Launched this year, the program has awarded 564 students scholarships of up to $5,000 for those enrolling at a four-year school, and $1,500 for those going to two-year colleges or technical programs.
 
"This is an economic development issue, no question. We need a strong and thriving state," said Alicia Philipp, the president of the foundation, who urged the participants to come together to form a coalition to explore ways to make postsecondary education affordable. "But it's also a moral imperative. We can't let this many people in our state not have a productive life."
 
The Atlanta meeting took place as concern about the state of higher education in the South is growing. Five of the 10 states with the biggest declines in university enrollment are in the South, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and West Virginia. With a growing and rapidly diversifying population, the region faces a challenge in helping more people succeed in postsecondary education and earn living wages.
 
The Southern Regional Education Board, which tracks education policy, has convened a Commission on College Affordability in the South. Its charge is to find ways to improve college affordability by better coordinating state financing policies on tuition, state appropriations to institutions and state financial aid to students.
 
"Postsecondary education has become unaffordable for lower- and middle-income students - and we need those students to enroll in greater numbers," said David Spence, the president of SREB.