Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008

Columbus Tech to move to four-day week

Columbus Technical College students and employees can expect a shorter school week beginning in October.

To save on utility and fuel costs, the school will begin operating on a four-day work and class week schedule — Monday through Thursday — at the start of this year's fall quarter, officials announced Wednesday.

The cost-saving measure will continue until next summer, when the college will determine if extending this type of schedule is necessary.

"It was not a decision made lightly," Columbus Tech president Bob Jones said in a statement. "We at Columbus Technical College are fortunate that our budgetary planning helped ease the pain of the cutbacks at the state level and the four-day work week will help keep our costs down."

Because of declining revenues, the state of Georgia is forecasting there will be as much as a $1.6 billion shortfall in the budget for fiscal year 2009. Columbus Tech has to propose budget reductions of six, eight and 10 percent for its state money.

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