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Georgias proposed budgetfor the comig year says oethig to Georgia residets iprivate istitutios: you cafed for yourselves.

If Gov. Soy Perdues pro-posed budget passes the statelegislature, the Georgia TuitioEquilizatio Grat would becompletely elimiated.

For more tha 30 years theGTEG has assisted studetswishig to pursue a privatecollege educatio. It is the olyscholarship give to studets

i Georgia that is either eed- based or merit-based. Moretha 400 Berry studets rely othe GTEG as their oly sourceof state tuitio aid. Elimiat-ig this program would leavethese studets, ad thousadsof other youg Georgias, witho moetary support from thestate.

The mai argumet forremovig GTEG is the curretecoomic crisis. The budgetand nance committee seem tothik that it is a small ad rea-soable actio to stop providigprivate college studets withthe meager $600 a year that the

GTEG affords. They argue thatthis cut, which will save thestate $29 millio, is a ecessarysacrice in turbulent economicwaters, eve citig their cut ofstate istitutio fudig by 10percet.

What they fail to realize isthat, while they are elimiatiga small amout of fudig forpublic college studets, they aredoig away with 100 percet ofthe fudig they give to publiccollege studets.

Aother cosequece of thiscut is the effect it will have oerollmet at private collegesad uiversities. It stads toreaso that a high school seiorchoosig betwee a privateschool, where he will receive otuitio aid from the state, ad apublic school, where the major-ity of his tuitio would be subsi-

dized, would most likely choosethe latter.

So, i a sese, the state is put-tig private colleges ad uiver-sities at a ufair disadvatagei their competitio with publicuiversities for studets. Theelimiatio of GTEG is a pro-verbial slap i the face of Geor-gias private istitutios. But, ifecoomics is their true cocer,they should cosider icreasigthe GTEG ad ot elimiatigit.

Icreasig the GTEG would

ecourage more studets tocosider attedig private col-leges ad uiversities, therebydecreasig the umber of stu-dets i the state uiversitysystem.

It costs the state aroud$1,000 dollars to educate a stu-det i a private uiversity. Itcosts them early 10 times thatamout to educate a public ui-versity studet. So why ot useyour moey more wisely ow iorder to decrease the nancial

burde i the state uiversitysystem i the log ru?

Elimiatig the GTEG hurtsstudets, private uiversities

ad eve the state itself. Butthere is still time to esure thatthe GTEG remais i the bud-get for the upcomig academicyear. As studets, we are mostdirectly affected by this cut. It isour resposibility to make ourvoices heard ad let state legis-lators kow that this proposalwould have drastically ega-tive effects o more tha 30,000Georgia college studets.

Take advatage of oppor-tuities o campus to cotactyour legislator. Tell your par-ets, frieds ad family to peti-tio legislators o your behalf.While $600 may ot seem likemuch to the goveror, it is ofvital importace to studets atprivate colleges like this oe.

You ca locate your state leg-islator by visitig georgia.gov.

OPInIOnSPAGE 4, CAMPUS CARRIER JAnUARY 28, 2010

Elminating GTEG harms students, college and state

The Carrier editorial reflects a cosesus of the The Carriers editorial board.

signed[un]

The Carrier Editorial

Kyler Post

Editor-in-Chief

Nathan VanderVen

Business Manager

Amanda Griswell

Managing Editor

Jessica Hoover

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Claudia Hagan

News Editor

Nicole NeSmith

Opinions Editor

Sydney Burftt

Features Editor

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Entertainment Editor

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Graphics Editor

Jessie Duckworth

Online Editor

Sarah Lathrop

Asst. Business Manager

Andrew Blevins

Asst. News Editor

Katherine Lavey

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Asst. Entertainment

Editor

Candler Hobbs

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EditorialBoard

the CARRIeRBrry Collg

Recipiet of Georgia College

Press Associatios SeiorCollege Geeral Excellece

Award, 1988-1998, 2000-2002, 2004

Campus Carrier490520 Berry CollegeMt. Berry, GA 30149

(706) 236-2294

E-mail: campus_carrier@berry.edu

The Carrier is published weekly exceptdurig examiatio periods ad holidays.The opiios, either editorial or com-

mercial, expressed i The Carrier are otecessarily those of the admiistratio,

Berry Colleges board of trustees or TheCarrier editorial board. Studet publica-tios are located i 202 Richards Gym.The Carrier reserves the right to edit all

cotet for legth, style, grammar adlibel. The Carrier is available o the BerryCollege campus, oe free per perso.

Berry College offers mayunique and enticing benets to itsstudets. From the deer to the o-campus work program, studetsca look forward to havig a oe-of-a-kid experiece while ear-ig their degree.

However, oe thig prospec-tive studets will ot be able tond here at Berry is a decent, oreve moderately opportue, park-ig situatio. While the umber ofBerry studets far surpasses theumber of faculty ad staff (thereare oly 671 ames listed o thefaculty/staff portio of the direc-tory) there are hardly ay reaso-ably located studet parkig lots,

but a plethora of off-limits facultyspaces. Somethig should be doe.As payig studets, we should beable to park i a class-coveietarea, without the threat of a petty$25 ticket lurkig i the future.

Aside from the trivial ne, theidirect repercussios of the hor-rible studet parkig are edless,as a typical day i my life here atBerry clearly demostrates. I ofte

ited to wake up a hour or so before class to get ready, preparefor class ad relax, although thisrarely happes. Istead, my typi-cal morig cosist of hittig thesooze butto too may times,ad sleepig util Im forced outof bed with oly 20 miutes util

my rst class. Though walking toclass is temptig i order to savegas, I live i the Ford buildigad at 8 a.m. i Jauary, the walkis quite terrifyig. needless to say,I usually opt to drive.

I a perfect world, I wouldpark my car ad stylishly strutto class, arrivig a few miutesearly to touch up my make-upad prepare for the upcomiglesso. I am istead, forced towait impatietly for a uavail-able spot behid the Cage Ceter,which is a uattractive distacefrom my rst class in the Green

buildig. After stakig my prizedparkig spot, I must cotiue the

jourey to Gree o foot, ofte iheels. To make matters worse, mywalk to Gree is o simple walki the park. Istead, about half-way there, I ecouter a muddyad disastrous costructio zoe,which was apparetly supposedto be completed eos ago.

Finally, my cute outt marredwith mud ad my arms aboutto sap, I make it to Gree adclimb the three ights of stairs tomy ecoomics classroom, where Isit, tired ad ofte irritable, utilthe ext roud of a tortuous classcommute.

As studets, we are ofte stuck

betwee a rock ad a hard place.Parkig dilemmas are o excep-tio. Say, for example, you haveve minutes to get to a class ando top of that, its pourig dowrai. You ca either park i thedesigated (far from everythig)studet parkig lot, or you ca

go with the devil o your shoul-der ad park i a off- limits, butsickeigly temptig faculty spot.If you go with optio A, studetparkig, you ed up soakig wetad late. If you chose optio B, thefaculty spot, you will most likelyhave a ticket waitig o yourwidshield whe class lets out.

I persoally have faced thisdebate of good ad evil maymorigs ad ca persoallytestify that it gets the day off toa rotten start. On the ip side, Iam all for supportig alterativemethods of trasportatio. Walk-ig, carpoolig ad takig the busare all woderful ways to travelcheap ad stay gree. However, Idot have much faith i the BerryCollege bus. Its stoppig times arehit ad miss, ad Ive persoallywitessed it leave prospectivepassegers waitig helpless adforlor at the bus stop.

A lot of these issues could beavoided if proper studet park-ig were provided. Is it ot pos-sible for the studets ad teach-ers to park together i harmoy?I mea, hey, the deer ad cowsdo it. Boastig more tha 26,000acres of lad, why is it that BerryCollege has ot provided its stu-dets with coveiet, accessible

places to park? I highly doubt Idbe the loe rager i my apprecia-tio if thigs were to chage. BerryCollege should slam the brakeso their curret parkig situatioad swig ito a ew gear.

TrisTanHarrison

Asst. Features Editor