Tyler Forrest

PDF: June 2009 Board Book

UT system President Jan Simek likely will approve an expansion of the regional tuition discount program to allow Georgia students to attend graduate programs at UTC.

Officials said North Georgia residents could attend graduate programs in business and education as soon as this fall, and other programs could be opened in the future. Last year, about 200 high-schoolers in North Georgia attended UTC at an in-state rate.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Provost Phil Oldham said he is still working to determine whether the school can break even in its first year of accepting North Georgia graduate students at an in-state rate.

"I am hoping to give (a report) to Dr. Simek within the next two weeks," he said. "Then he can veto it or go forward with it."

The UT board of trustees voted to expand the regional tuition discount program at UTC during its annual meeting this month. The board also approved a one-year extension of the discount program for regional undergraduates.

While the undergraduate discount program cost the university money in 2007, its first year, Dr. Oldham said the school turned a net profit of $300,000 in its second year.

UT system spokeswoman Gina Stafford on Monday said Dr. Simek was out of town and couldn't comment. However, she said a two-year pilot program to expand a regional discount for graduate programs will be approved as long as Dr. Simek determines "that no additional costs would be incurred and that the programs meet criteria related to quality."

Dr. Oldham said he and Dr. Simek plan to review every graduate program at UTC to see which would be the most appealing to regional students. The school also needs to determine where there is capacity for new students, he said.

Along with education and business programs, he said engineering graduate programs also could draw regional students.

Dr. Oldham said typically people who look to attend a graduate program in education or business at a regional college need to stay close to home and plan to use their new skills nearby.

"Those programs would be the largest and have the largest outreach possibilities," he said.

Tyler Forrest, a UT student trustee from UTC who has pushed for the discount expansion, said he hopes Dr. Simek will allow the discount for as many programs as possible.

"North Georgia students are in an underserved population," he said. "UTC needs to become more of a regional institution. It is important that we fill those upper-level divisions with more students."