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Tag: equity

  • Georgia Senate panel calls for new needs-based aid program for college students

    Georgia Senate panel calls for new needs-based aid program for college students

    Georgia Senate panel calls for new needs-based aid program for college students

    The state Senate Committee on Higher Education Affordability released a report Tuesday that calls for a comprehensive needs-based aid program for college students.

    Sen. Nan Orrock, chair of the committee, said the current system is not enough for some students.

    “We’ve invested heavily in the HOPE scholarship, and we know now that with the economy and the realities that does not even get the job done,” Orrock said. “People are still left with a 5, 6, 10, 12,000 dollar gaps to fill.”

    The report calls on Georgia to model its need-based aid program on states like North Carolina and Florida. Georgia and New Hampshire are the only two states that do not fund need-based financial aid for college students, according to a report by the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute published in 2021.

    The committee’s report suggests that funding for the program should come from the unrestricted reserves of the Georgia Lottery.

    However, state Sen. Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican and chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, expressed concerns about funding the program this way, according to the Georgia Recorder.

    “I think the lottery has done a great job for Georgia, I think HOPE has been an excellent tool, and certainly Gov. (Zell) Miller had strong foresight when he put that program in place,” he said. “But I don’t think you take funds or resources away from a successful program to fund something you need but have not yet developed a comprehensive way to address. So I’m not a fan of using lottery dollars for this program.”

    Other news in higher education:

    • Members of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents signaled that they were willing to allow public universities to accept the Classic Learning Test as an entry exam instead of the SAT or ACT, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
    • The U.S. Department of Education is implementing measures from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, including changing the “professional” status of certain degrees. The list of degrees include nursing, physician assistants, physical therapists, audiologists, architects, accountants, educators and social workers.
  • Audit finds Georgia’s rural hospital tax credit brings millions but falls short of growing needs

    Audit finds Georgia’s rural hospital tax credit brings millions but falls short of growing needs

    Audit finds Georgia’s rural hospital tax credit brings millions but falls short of growing needs

    A Georgia tax credit provides millions of dollars to struggling rural hospitals, but it’s not enough to fund growing needs in these communities.

    A recent state audit conducted by the Fiscal Research Center at Georgia State University found that Georgia’s Rural Hospital Tax Credit program has generated more than $432 million for rural hospitals since its inception in 2017. The audit also found that the program costs the state nearly $80 million while adding more than $25 million to the economy.

    Jimmy Lewis, CEO of Hometown Health, told the Georgia Recorder that the cost to the state is minimal compared to the benefit it brings to rural communities.

    “If we don’t provide vehicles like this to preserve economic development in rural Georgia, we’re going to accelerate to a third-world nation beyond anything we can imagine … we’ve got very problematic situations where we don’t have the money,” Lewis said in an interview with The Georgia Recorder. “Again, these hospitals were built in the mid-50s and haven’t been totally upgraded since then, and as a result, we’ve got a real infrastructure problem.”

    A recent study by the Georgia Health Initiative found that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would result in a loss of nearly $626 million of federal funding in rural hospitals. The study also found that 20%, or 91,274 people, of the estimated newly uninsured Georgians will live in rural areas, further increasing the burden on rural hospitals and medical facilities.

    Leah Chan, director of health justice at Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, told the Georgia Recorder that although the tax credit helps struggling hospitals, it does not provide enough financing to meet the needs of rural communities.

    “I think what this audit shows is that it has generated more than $432 million in support for rural hospitals statewide,” Chan said in an interview with the Georgia Recorder. “So that is certainly a benefit. Again, no one solution is going to fix all our problems, and we need to access additional levers that allow us to draw down additional federal funds and to ensure we can cover more eligible Georgians.”

    The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform published a report in October saying that 21 of Georgia’s 71 rural hospitals were at risk of closure, with 10 of those being at immediate risk.

  • South and Southwest Georgia Experience Highest Infant Mortality Rates, Report Finds

    South and Southwest Georgia Experience Highest Infant Mortality Rates, Report Finds

    South and Southwest Georgia Experience Highest Infant Mortality Rates, Report Finds

    Infant mortality rates vary sharply across Georgia, with the highest death rates concentrated in rural and southern regions, according to the 2025 State of the State Report from the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia (HMHBGA).

    HMHBGA mapping shows that Georgia’s Southwest (Albany), West Central (Columbus) and South Central (Dublin) public health districts recorded the highest infant mortality rates last year, reaching 10 to 11 deaths per 1,000 live births. In contrast, lower rates — between 5 and 6 — were found in North Georgia (Dalton) and the North district (Gainesville).

    The report also highlights major racial disparities between public health districts. Regions such as Southeast (Waycross), North Central (Macon) and West Central (Columbus) reported Black–white infant mortality gaps ranging from 9 to 16 deaths per 1,000 live births, some of the widest disparities in the state. Meanwhile, districts like Northeast (Athens) and Southwest (Albany) showed smaller gaps of up to four deaths per 1,000.

    These geographic differences mirror patterns in provider access. Georgia Public Broadcasting reports that maternal mortality and infant health outcomes are often worse in communities with fewer obstetric clinicians or where prenatal care is limited. March of Dimes has identified more than a third of U.S. counties as maternity care deserts, where residents lack access to birthing hospitals, OB-GYNs or midwives.

    Advocates say the uneven distribution of healthcare resources leaves families in many parts of Georgia without timely prenatal support. State lawmakers have expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage and invested in maternal home-visiting programs, but experts warn that improving outcomes requires earlier and more consistent access to care.

    HMHBGA said the geographic trends reflect “pronounced disparities in infant health outcomes,” particularly in rural and economically distressed regions of the state. The organization’s findings show that where a family lives remains a major predictor of infant health and survival.