BREAKING NEWS
Our alma mater needs our help—and quickly. Agnes Scott College faculty, students and alumnae are disturbed by developments in the Georgia State Legislature that are threatening to eliminate the Tuition Equalization Grant, or TEG. The college is asking for our help in countering this threat by contacting our state senator and representative to let them know that we support continuing to fund the TEG. Please see the following message from President Elizabeth Kiss; in it, she explains why TEG is so urgently needed by the college and by students in Georgia.
Click here for a sample letter (in PDF format) that you can use to draft your own message. Because this issue is coming before the legislature the week of Feb. 1, please consider calling or faxing your letter to your state senator and representative I have just finished calling the offices of mine to encourage them to vote to save the Tuition Equalization Grant, and it took less than 5 minutes of my time. Please make yourself heard.
Finally, please pass this information on to everyone you know who cares about the state of higher education in Georgia. Thanks for your help!
Sincerely,
Linda Kay Hudson McGowan ‘65
Alumnae Association President
Message from President Kiss:
The state of Georgia is threatening to eliminate the Tuition Equalization Grant, or TEG. We urgently need your help to try to save this program.
The TEG provides about $1,000 per year state support to Georgia students attending private colleges and universities. It has been in place since 1975.
To help balance the state’s budget, Governor Sonny Perdue has recommended eliminating the TEG beginning with the next academic year. Legislative committees are debating budget issues this week. The only thing that can save the TEG is for members of the state house and senate to hear from Georgia voters and taxpayers RIGHT NOW urging them to save the TEG.
What can you do?
CALL or WRITE a LETTER to your state representative and state senator. Letters and phone calls are more effective than emails. It is easy to get your legislators’ names, phone numbers and mailing addresses by typing your home address into this link: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/state/main/?state=GA&view=myofficials#0
Forward this message to FRIENDS and FAMILY members and ask them to call and write, too!
Why should you care? Cutting the TEG would
- Deprive Agnes Scott’s Georgia students and their families of $1,000 a year.
- Cost Agnes Scott around $400,000 a year.
- Make Georgia one of the only states in the country without a TEG program.
- Ultimately cost the state MORE money by driving more college students to attend public universities. A Georgia student attending a public university costs taxpayers about $7,000/year (plus all the state funds used to construct and maintain buildings). Keeping the TEG is good for students, for private colleges and universities, AND for Georgia’s budget
I hope you will join me and act now! Your voice can make a difference in convincing the legislature to save the TEG.
With thanks,
Elizabeth Kiss
President, Agnes Scott College
Background and Mission
For more than a century, the Agnes Scott Alumnae Association has served as a solid link for Agnes Scott graduates around the world to stay connected to each other and the college. All former students who have completed 12 credit hours are automatically members of the Alumnae Association. There are now more than 12,000 alumnae worldwide. Today, the association continues to grow and develop to reflect the needs and diversity of its members.
The Agnes Scott Alumnae Association’s mission is to promote partnership between alumnae and the college by:
- Providing opportunities for continued intellectual growth
- Strengthening bonds and understanding in a diverse alumnae community and
- Advocating increased alumnae engagement with the college
The Office of Alumnae Relations supports the college and the association by providing services and programming for alumnae.