The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents voted Tuesday on the 2025-2026 academic year tuition rates and to consolidate Georgia Southern University and East Georgia State College.
The Board of Regents voted not to increase in-state undergraduate tuition for the 2025-2026 academic year while approving a tuition increase of 2% for out-of-state students and 3% for international students.
Nevertheless, students at the University of North Georgia and Albany State University will see tuition increases of $24 per credit hour and $21 per credit hour, respectively. This move is meant to standardize tuition rates across programs.
According to the USG, this year marks the seventh time in a decade that the board has voted not to increase in-state tuition rates for most colleges and universities.
The board also approved changes to mandatory student fees at eight institutions.
The USG is increasing mandatory fees at the University of Georgia, Clayton State University, Fort Valley State University, Albany State University, Dalton State College and University of North Georgia’s Dahlonega and Gainesville and Cumming, Oconee and Blue Ridge campuses. USG is decreasing fees at Georgia College and State University and Georgia Tech, but not Tech’s online master’s program.
The full lists of tuition rates for the 2025-2026 academic year for undergraduates, graduate and professional program students and online students are available on the USG’s website. The breakdown of mandatory fees, housing rates and elective fees for each educational institution are also available on the website.
“USG and the Board of Regents remain focused on keeping college affordable for Georgia families to ensure higher education stays within reach across the state,” USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue said in a press release shortly after the vote. “As more students than ever enroll on our campuses, we continue to prioritize reducing financial barriers and offering excellent value. Coupled with today’s decision, USG is making a real investment in Georgia’s future — ensuring that a college degree can help more Georgians unlock opportunities for personal prosperity and contribute to the state’s growth.”
Consolidation
The Board of Regents also approved Perdue’s proposal to consolidate Georgia Southern University and East Georgia State College as a cost-saving measure, making this the sixth consolidation measure since the USG created guidelines for the consolidation of institutions in 2011.
The consolidation process will not happen immediately; the Southern Association of Colleges and the Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) will need to approve the consolidation measure during its December board meeting. Both institutions will have implementation teams to work out the logistics of the consolidation.
At Tuesday’s Board of Regents meeting, Perdue said East Georgia State College would join Georgia Southern University, but the current EGSC campus would remain as a Swainsboro campus for the university.
“I want to say that while Dr. David Schecter, president of East Georgia, and his team there have done everything they can, the demographics challenging them have led to enrollment decline, it’s led to, as you know, revenue decline, and it has created some fiscal challenges there for which they’ve maneuvered, but it’s also led to some layoffs in that campus and some strain,” Perdue said.
The chancellor added that the “identity” of EGSC will remain but that the consolidation is in the best interest of Swainsboro and the surrounding regions.
“We think it will be enhanced that way programmatically, and it’s just an economy-of-scale issue from a perspective of efficiency and effectiveness that I believe that it’s in the best interest of the students there currently and the former students to be recruited there and then potentially to matriculate here at Georgia Southern,” he said.
USG, EGSC and Georgia Southern will hold a listening session Wednesday at EGSC and further listening sessions in the months ahead.
