Georgia’s adult learners who want to improve their education have easy access to free programs that offer adult education and GED preparation through the Technical College System of Georgia’s Office of Adult Education.

The only cost adult learners have to pay is the GED test fee. Now, for the first time since 2007, that fee is set to rise in July to $32 for each part of the test under a plan approved Thursday by the state board that oversees the TCSG.

The total cost for the five-part test will be $160 and goes into effect July 1 after the TCSG, its colleges, and the local testing centers work to inform Georgians about the price change.

The new price structure applies to all current tests and coincides with the nationwide implementation of a computer-based GED test. The TCSG Office of Adult Education is currently piloting the computer-based test at two technical college locations and plans to implement it at all GED testing centers statewide by year-end.

This is the first price increase for the GED test in five years, when the previous cost for each of the five test components rose from $13 to the current $19 (or $95 for the full test battery). The new price factors in the cost of the development, implementation, delivery and use of the test, including the computer-based version.

Evaluations from more than 600 GED test-takers who took the computer-based test at the two pilot test centers at Gwinnett Technical College and Ogeechee Technical College have been positive about the experience. Even students with minimal computer skills found the experience was easier than they first thought.