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Student athletic fees raised to fund gridiron program

By ANDREA JONES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 04/15/08

Georgia State University's long planned football team is becoming a reality and its students will foot part of the bill.

The Board of Regents on Tuesday approved an $85 increase in Georgia State's athletic fee for fall semester, paving the way for university to play its first game in 2010.

A football team has long been the dream of retiring GSU president Carl Patton, who has overseen dramatic changes at the former-commuter school in his 16 years at the helm.

Still, Patton and other GSU officials declined to comment on Tuesday, preferring to wait until Thursday, when they said an official announcement will be made.

Regents approved tuition and fees for all 35 public colleges and universities at a meeting in Columbus.

Georgia State University's overall fees will go from $494 to $600 in the fall, the largest hike among schools. Georgia Tech's fees will increase by $19, to $592 in the fall. UGA students will pay $24 more, to $587. A committee of Georgia State students approved the proposed jump earlier in 2007.

For several years, the school has been morphing from a commuter-based community into a more traditional university.

By 2015, Patton has said, GSU plans to house 20 percent of its 50,000 full- and part-time students on campus, a sea change for the institution.

Georgia State has raised more than $1 million dollars in pledges toward the football program. The team will likely play its first season in the Georgia Dome.

They might want to reconsider their moniker. They'll likely be immediately confused with Georgia Southern.

SuperHornet wrote:They might want to reconsider their moniker. They'll likely be immediately confused with Georgia Southern.

thre will be no confusion. Georgia State has class. GSU is full of thugs. white trash, and non-qualifers.

Another CAA team - that will make what - 14 in 2010?

dbackjon wrote:Another CAA team - that will make what - 14 in 2010?

Since they are a full member of the CAA, and some of us are not...I predict that in 3-4 years you will see a new conference with UMass, UNH, Maine and URI at minimum departing the CAA...maybe Albany, maybe Bryant...and a few others...

This will allow the full CAA members football without all the troubles of 14 conference teams...

If the CAA split would they allow any affiliate members? If yes I think Villanova and Richmond would stay with the 8 CAA members.

AEC football would have
Maine
UNH
URI
UMass
Stony Brook
Albany
C.Conn.St. (maybe)
Bryant (maybe)

Richmond and Villanova would make sense, geographically and rivalry-wise to stay affiliated with the CAA.

The ranks of FCS are continuing to swell, with the move-ups (Bryant, UND, USD, Presby) and the start-ups (ODU, GaState, and Lamar), as well as the schools (i.e. Northeast Conference) stepping up schollie levels.

Fresno St. Alum wrote:If the CAA split would they allow any affiliate members? If yes I think Villanova and Richmond would stay with the 8 CAA members.

AEC football would have
Maine
UNH
URI
UMass
Stony Brook
Albany
C.Conn.St. (maybe)
Bryant (maybe)

That's not a bad line-up....I, for one, would miss Delaware and JMU on a semi-regular basis...maybe we could play them as part of the OOC schedule on a regular basis...

I knew GaSU was a large school, but wow 50,000 students??

BigApp wrote:I knew GaSU was a large school, but wow 50,000 students??

That is their goal - which I am sure includes MANY part-time, night students.

This is awesome, a FCS team right in my hometown. And yes, GSU is almost entirely commuter students, most of them older, too. They've been trying lately to make it more like "traditional" college, but it's kinda tough being smack dab in the middle of ATL.

I predict Kennesaw St. will build a better program in football that Ga. State. State does not have that college atmpsphere that, IMHO, is needed to build a good following.

I thought Grambling State had a team?