Georgia college leaders warn falling enrollment could sap budgets

Leaders of Georgia’s public universities and technical colleges warned lawmakers Wednesday that their schools could be weakened by budget decreases based on declining enrollment.

State lawmakers use funding formulas — with enrollment as the most important input — to determine how much money to spend each year on the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia.

But the technical colleges saw steep enrollment declines during the pandemic, and public universities are also seeing the number of students fall, particularly as a fall in the number of children leads to a decline in students graduating high school.