Commissioner Greg Dozier told the Appropriations Subcommittee that the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) is experiencing sustained enrollment growth while managing a material gap between formula M&O support and campuses’ operational costs.

Dozier said the TCSG M&O square-footage rate is $4.15 while campus operational costs run about $12.56 per square foot. He explained colleges close the gap through tuition, fees, industry funding and internal reallocations. "We operate more like private sector than anywhere I've seen where we're taking in revenues, different colors of revenues, and then we're maximizing based on the mission," Dozier said.

Dozier also addressed MR&R and deferred maintenance. He said the recurring MR&R appropriation is $24,000,000; because the state moved some items from bond packages to cash funding the comparable planning figure is about $76,000,000. Using a critical-infrastructure needs assessment, Dozier stated priority‑1 and priority‑2 deferred maintenance across TCSG amounts to roughly $158,000,000 — an exposure that exceeds MR&R alone.

On project delivery, Dozier reviewed 2022–2026 projects: about 40 appropriated projects totaling roughly $660 million with 10 projects that later needed more funding. He said seven of the 10 were funded internally by colleges and three came back to the legislature for supplemental support. Dozier credited partnerships with GBA/GISFIC and early use of construction-manager-at-risk procurement to limit scope creep.

On efficiency and student outcomes, Dozier described an optimization pilot at Georgia Northwestern that remapped students’ course sequences and adjusted class scheduling to reduce barriers to on‑time graduation. He said the TCSG system logged more than 1,000,000 credit hours this fall and produced over 46,000 graduates last year.

What happens next: Dozier offered to supply requested spreadsheets and historical project detail to the committee. Lawmakers pressed on whether formula changes should be considered; Dozier and committee leaders agreed that formula discussion between systems and the legislature should continue as part of budgeting work.

Sources and attribution: article uses direct quotations and figures from Commissioner Greg Dozier’s presentation to the Appropriations Subcommittee (transcript segments supplied by committee).