A state budget proposal could lead to swift cuts at Georgia Gwinnett College, including up to eight furlough days in the coming months. Leaders are asking legislators to restore the $2.7 million in the college’s special initiative funding cut in the governor’s proposal of the supplemental 2013 budget, which runs through this summer. “We’re sympathetic to (Gov. Nathan Deal’s) responsibility to balance the budget, but to take that much out of our budget ... is extremely difficult without impacting people,” College President Dan Kaufman said of the furloughs, which will cause professors and other staffers to take a pay hit. “Our goal is to hold this as harmless for our students as we can.” The college, currently in its sixth year at the Lawrenceville campus, has grown dramatically in a short time, causing legislators to set aside extra funds from the formulaic outlay for universities to accommodate the growth. Without the supplement, the college would receive funding based on two-year-old student data. But Merri Brantley, the college’s director of external affairs, pointed out that enrollment has nearly doubled in that time to about 9,400 students.
http://m.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2013/feb/11/college-facing-budget-cuts/
