State Technical Colleges Waive
Out-of-State Fees and Lend a Hand
to Katrina Victims
Georgia’s Technical Colleges Extend Waiver of Out-of-State Fee for Students Displaced by Katrina
State’s 34 technical colleges offering additional disaster assistance
Atlanta – DTAE Commissioner Mike Vollmer, whose agency oversees the state’s 34 technical colleges, announced today that Georgia’s offer to waive out-of-state fees for students affected by the Katrina disaster will be extended through the Winter 2006 quarter.
The added non-resident fee usually doubles the amount of tuition over what a Georgian would pay at a state technical college.
Vollmer also informed the technical college presidents that he will review the waiver policy early next year to see if it will be prudent to continue the offer into the Spring 2006 quarter.
“These are extraordinary times, and Georgia’s technical college system will respond in every way possible to the education needs of those devastated by Katrina,” said Commissioner Vollmer.
Displaced persons needing more information about enrolling in Georgia’s technical college system can call DTAE at 404-679-1600 or the technical college in their area.
While DTAE alters its state-wide policies in order to provide aid to the disaster, the college faculty and students have already begun their own grassroots efforts to help those still living and working among the devastation, as well as those evacuees now living in the communities near the colleges.
“Like Georgians everywhere, and like people throughout our nation, our technical colleges are using their resources to aid and ease the pain of our Gulf Coast neighbors,” said Vollmer. Each college is doing something different.
Moultrie Technical College is raising funds for the American Red Cross through faculty, staff and student contributions on all of its campuses in Moultrie, Tifton, Ashburn and Sumner. College employees are also free to use work hours to assist with meeting the needs of the hundreds of evacuees who are staying at the Georgia Baptist Assembly in Norman Park.
Students at North Metro Technical Collegein Acworth, who voted to donate $10,000 from their student activity fund to go to the Red Cross. The students would have normally used the money for food, music and games at college’s annual fall festival.
At the Heart of Georgia Technical Collegein Dublin, instructors from the college commercial driving class, working with the Dublin Jaycees, local businesses and HGTC students, drove three semis and 100,000 pounds of donated relief supplies to shelters in and around Gulfport, Mississippi.
The students at West Central Technical College in Waco donated $2,000 from their student activities fund to the Red Cross and Salvation Army, and the college president’s office matched that donation with another $2,000 for those charities. An anonymous friend of the college from Carroll County then matched both donations with another $4,000 of their own money.
At Albany Technical College, a trailer from that school’s commercial driving class is being loaded with relief supplies. A college yard sale will be held Saturday at ATC with all proceeds going to hurricane victims, and the college cosmetology department is offering its services free to all evacuees staying in the Albany area.
Students from the culinary arts class at Atlanta Technical College prepared meals for evacuees living in the city’s Adamsville shelter. Instructors and students from ATC’s healthcare, cosmetology, and continuing education programs have all offered their services to the displaced who are now sheltered at the Georgia Tech Coliseum.
Two families have been taken in by the staff and students at South Georgia Technical Collegein Americus. They will live in a campus dormitory and have been provided with jobs and education opportunities at SGTC.
A community rally and prayer vigil will be held Thursday night on the campus of Southeastern Technical College in Vidalia. The college is also a local drop-off station for non-perishable food and other relief supplies.
Appalachian Technical College in Jasper has started a “Coins for Caring” drive to collect money for relief organizations and is assisting with the relocation of families to the
Salvation Army’s Camp Grand View in Pickens County. On September 15, the college and the state Department of Labor will host a job fair on the campus.
Press Release
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education
Michael Vollmer
Commissioner
Contact: Mike Light
DTAE Communications Office
404-327-6913
