I was stunned to read Tom Crawford's column in Dawson Community News on May 27, in which he has stated that the University System of Georgia has increased the salary and bonuses of some of the presidents of the universities, which ranges from 41-87 percent of their already high salaries.
In terms of actual dollars, the salary of the president of Georgia Tech has been increased from $773,644 to $1,093,646, while the salary of the president of Georgia State has been raised from $570,604 to more than $1 million.
The unfair and unjust raises in the salary are just like winning a "lottery" that is funded by the students, who were already having difficulty paying the tuition, and now may either just drop out or work extra hours to pay the raised tuition.
Some of the families pay the student's tuition, and this raise will create financial hardship for them also.
The Chancellor Hank Huckaby justified the exorbitant salaries and the raises to retain the presidents.
This means that these presidents are not sincere and dedicated educationists, but want more money in their bank account.
It is not the presidents who make the colleges attractive for their students, but in fact, the dedicated professors and other staff who go the extra mile to make their institutions get accreditation and competitive ratings.
With my 16 years in the system, I know how much unaccounted hours the university professors work to keep themselves up-to-date by attending various conferences within and out of the country.
The HOPE Scholarship cannot keep up with the annual increase in the college tuition.
From the last 10 years, students, or their families, have to come up with extra money to compensate the difference and also pay for the books.
I request the Gov. Nathan Deal to make the current raises at par with the faculty and staff, and use the surplus to increase scholarship amounts to help the current students continue with their degree program and increase the number of scholarships, in order to meet the projected target of "college graduates by 250,000 between now and 2020."
Syed R. Ahmed, Dawson County