Gov. Sonny Perdue's cost cutting means Augusta State University's plan to increase security will be put on hold.

The school had been considering a plan to spend $30,000 a year to hire part-time security guards. But the governor's budget instructions, in which he asked all of the state's 35 colleges and universities to submit plans to slash their spending by 5 percent in the current fiscal year, means the school will make do without the guards for the foreseeable future.

Kathy Schofe, the director of ASU's public relations department, said they had hoped to hire the guards to take over basic tasks from the school's public safety department, such as opening and closing buildings on campus and escorting students to their cars at night.

"They do a lot of things that security people could do," Ms. Schofe said. "If we had security guards, they could relieve the public safety officers to do other things like patrolling."

They also won't be able to buy an extra car for the public safety department, she said.

The cuts will also apply to the 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2009.

"Public Safety operations will continue as they do today until that time," the school's proposal says, "but we forego an opportunity to make better use of our certified police officers."

Morris News Service reports were used in this article.