by Ty Tagami | Oct 15, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The number of students who earn a degree at a public college or university in Georgia keeps rising.
Enrollment has been rising, too, but that is not the only reason for the increasing graduation rates at the University System of Georgia.
Enrollment has gone up 12.8% since 2011, but the number of degrees awarded has far outpaced that, shooting up 50.6% over the same period, according to the Board of Regents.
The graduation gains coincide with USG’s decision to join the Complete College America program in 2011.
“Our focus on student success delivers real value — not just for the state, but for every student whose degree opens doors to opportunity and long-term prosperity,” Chancellor Sonny Perdue said in a statement Tuesday.
USG cited several initiatives, including the creation of a website (Georgia Degrees Pay) that informs families about college costs and value, with data about success rates, borrowing, debt and average earnings by degree for all 26 of the system’s colleges and universities. The system also pointed to the Georgia Momentum Approach, which uses predictive analytics and targeted advising for students who are transitioning to college. Remediation and teaching practices were also updated.
The gains have produced all-time highs: the number of degrees awarded in Fiscal Year 2025 rose 7.9% over the prior year, for a record 82,607 degrees. Early students lagged their more advanced peers: 53,739 of the degrees awarded in FY 2025 went to undergraduates, for an increase of 4.3%, while graduate and professional degree awards increased 15.2% to 28,868.
Four-year graduation rates were not evenly distributed last year. Of the Freshmen who enrolled in the system in 2020, 35.6% earned a degree within four years, according to a USG graduation report available online. The rate at Georgia Tech was 69.3% and at the University of Georgia it was 77.4%. However, the rate at Fort Valley State University was 15.9% and at Georgia Gwinnett College it was 10.2%.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 14, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — William R. “Bill” Crowe, a longtime college administrator with experience at the University of Georgia and at public colleges in several other states, will take over as the interim president of Valdosta State University in January.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue named Crowe as the temporary successor of President Richard Carvajal on Tuesday.
Carvajal leaves the post at the end of the semester before starting a new role as president of California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in late January.
Crowe will begin helping Carvajal with the transition on Oct. 15.
“His experience in advancing student success, guiding complex organizations and building partnerships makes him well-suited to serve as interim president,” Perdue said in a statement about Crowe’s selection.
In prior roles, Crowe has provided strategic direction for the University of Texas at Austin and has led UGA’s Continuing Education Center, where he oversaw the establishment of over 200 online courses, boosting external revenue and enrollments. He also spent a quarter century at Tyler Junior College in Texas as an associate vice president, a dean in multiple roles and a director of campus police.
Crowe taught a graduate course on community college resource development at Ferris State University in Michigan and served as interim chancellor of Louisiana State University Eunice.
“What matters most to me is helping students succeed and making sure faculty and staff have the resources they need to do their best work,” Crowe said in a statement.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 14, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Jason Dickerson, the Cherokee County businessman who won a special election last month to fill a vacate state Senate seat, swore his oath of office Tuesday.
The lifelong Cherokee County resident took over Senate District 21 during a ceremony at the county courthouse.
Dickerson, a Republican who co-founded a trucking company and leads a private investment firm, succeeds Brandon Beach.
Beach, also a Republican, vacated the position in May after President Donald Trump appointed him U.S. Treasurer.
“I will work to eliminate unnecessary tax burdens, secure our border and elections, and fight for veterans and seniors across the state,” Dickerson said in a statement
Dickerson, who is from Canton, soundly defeated Democrat Debra Shigley in the low turnout special election runoff on Sept. 23. Democrats had hoped Shigley would turn the north metro Atlanta area blue after a strong showing in the Aug. 26 special election that winnowed several GOP candidates. But Dickerson’s final victory secured Republicans’ 33-23 majority in the state Senate.
One of Dickerson’s first official acts was to issue a press release through the Senate press office about the recent death of Mandi Ballinger. She was a fellow Republican from Canton who represented the area in the state House.
“This weekend, I was saddened to learn that Rep. Mandi Ballinger had passed away after a long fight with cancer,” Dickerson said, calling her a devoted public servant, loving wife and caring mother.
Ballinger chaired the House Committee on Judiciary Juvenile. Dickerson said she used that platform to champion a better path for Georgia youths.
No election has been scheduled yet to fill Ballinger’s vacant House seat.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 13, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The Republican primary to select Georgia’s next Secretary of State just gained another challenger as former Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones entered the race.
Jones, who has served in local and state elective office, announced Monday that he is running to succeed Brad Raffensperger as head of the agency that oversees elections and business licensing.
“Georgia deserves a Secretary of State who will protect every legal vote and restore trust in our elections,” Jones said in a statement circulated on X.
Jones served as a Democrat in the Georgia state House twice, the first time in the 1990s and then in the 2010s.
In between, he won election twice as the leader of DeKalb County government, serving CEO for eight years in the 2000s.
After leaving that role, Jones ran an unsuccessful campaign for DeKalb sheriff. He then won a seat in the state House, still as a Democrat. He switched to the Republican party as his final term expired in 2021, after endorsing Donald Trump’s unsuccessful presidential bid against Joe Biden.
Jones then ran against Gov. Brian Kemp during the primary before Kemp’s second term as governor, dropping out of that race to run for the 10th Congressional seat, losing to current U.S. Rep. Mike Collins despite an endorsement from Trump.
Jones will be contesting the GOP primary against Raffensperger’s former top lieutenant, Gabriel Sterling, who announced his candidacy in the GOP primary last month just before Raffensperger announced he was running for governor.
Also in the race is state Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, whom House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican, tapped to lead an ongoing election procedures study committee. Fleming is a longtime ally and advisor to Gov. Brian Kemp, having served as his chief of staff in both the governor’s office and when Kemp was Secretary of State before Raffensperger.
And Kelvin King is running as a Republican in the Secretary of State primary, too. King lost to Herschel Walker in the 2022 GOP primary for U.S. Senate, the seat ultimately won by Democrat Raphael Warnock. King is married to Janelle King, an appointed member of the State Election Board.
Two Democrats have filed with the state to raise campaign funds for their Secretary of State campaigns — Adrian Consonery, Jr. and Penny Brown Reynolds, a former Fulton County State Court judge.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 10, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — An initiative by insurance companies to reduce high-cost doctor visits could cause physicians to abandon private practice and work for big hospital chains, independent practitioners are warning.
They say the trend could drive up patient costs.
Cigna implemented a policy last week to flag bills that appear to be too high. The insurance company may reduce payouts by one billing level “when the encounter criteria on the claim does not support the higher-level” payment code, the new policy says.
Dr. David Eagle, vice president of the American Independent Medical Practice Association (AIMPA), expects the new cost containment approach to erode income for private doctors, with long-term consequences for their patients.
Providers will be able to appeal downgraded billing claims by sending detailed medical records, but it is a labor-intensive process, said Eagle, a blood and cancer specialist in New York. He suspects such “downcoding” decisions will be made using algorithms that rapidly assess claim forms containing few details. Small doctors’ offices won’t be able to keep pace, he said. “Basically, they’re going to be underpaying the doctors based on information on the claim form.”
Cigna said only about 1% of providers in its network will be affected by the new policy, which “aims to reduce overbilling.” A one-level claim downcode will result in an average $50 reduction in payment, the company said in a written statement.
But $50 per visit adds up for a practice that runs on thin margins, said Dr. Bradley Sumrall, a blood and cancer specialist in Macon.
“I see 25, 30 patients a day. If you take out fifty bucks a patient, that’s $1,500 a day. That’s several employees,” he said. “We run on thin margins. We need money coming back to us in a timely manner, and anything that erodes that or slows it down puts more pressure on us to stay afloat.”
Aetna has had a similar downcoding policy for at least a couple of years. A spokesperson responded in writing that the company is obliged to monitor payment claims for its clients and members and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of Medicare and Medicaid.
Independent providers worry that such cost-saving policies will erode their income and drive more of them to work under the umbrella of big businesses with robust billing departments. Independent doctors’ billing offices typically lack the firepower to push back as effectively as a hospital’s or a health system’s, Eagle said.
The proportion of physicians who left independent practice for employment under hospitals and health systems doubled over the past dozen years, rising to 55% in 2024, according to a study by the Physicians Advocacy Institute.
Independent doctors say downcoding policies could accelerate that trend, with long-term consequences for patient costs.
Dr. Elizabeth Burns, an Atlanta dermatologist, said she understands the motivation of the insurance companies, adding that it conflicts with a provider’s mission.
“They’re trying to save money. That’s their main objective,” she said. “The majority of doctors, their main objective is for the patient to get the best care.”
Some “outlier” physicians might overbill and should be audited, Burns said. “But it shouldn’t affect all the other people who are correctly coding and whose medical visit notes justify the codes that they’re submitting.”
Eagle predicted that this money-saving maneuver will drive up costs for patients.
He said he was previously in an oncology group in North Carolina that joined a hospital system to cope with expanding administrative burdens and decreasing reimbursements. His patients then encountered new facility fees and increased co-pays, he said.
“So, I’ve lived it. This does have an impact when physicians move from the private setting to the independent setting,” Eagle said. “Everything else was the same. I was the same doctor, it was the same patient, they came to the same building, they got the same service. And many of them, because of the facility fees, paid a lot more for their co-pays. And some of my patients just said, ‘Look, I can’t keep seeing you anymore.’ So, it can have an impact, no doubt about it. All of a sudden, that doctor that you’re used to seeing is now in a health system.”
