The Gainesville-Hall County Adult Learning Center on Stallworth Street in Gainesville is already a bustling place with the parking lot jammed with cars.

But that's no matter to Brenda Thomas, Oakwood-based Lanier Technical College's associate vice president of adult education.

With a fee increase on GED tests looming, "we're trying to get as many people to come and take the tests before (the fees) go up July 1," she said.

General Educational Development test-takers currently pay $95 for the full battery of five tests that measure reading, writing, social studies, science and mathematics. Starting July 1, the new fee structure will be $50 for each test, meaning the entire battery will cost $250 if the five tests are taken on separate days.

The expense will be lower if two or more tests are taken together. Someone taking all five tests in a day can save $75.

The state board of the Technical College System of Georgia, which oversees the state's Office of Adult Education, approved the increase during its April 7 meeting in Atlanta.

"The increased cost ... could not be avoided due to the higher fees from the national test administrator," said Beverly Smith, the TCSG assistant commissioner for adult education.

"The rationale (for the increase) is that GED testing has never paid for itself," Thomas said.

"... Supposedly, the (new fees) reflect a true indication of what the GED tests cost."

One concern is many of those seeking the GED diploma are people who can least afford the new fees.

"We're going to be working hard to try to get some scholarships and (other help) for students, but everything is down, even giving," Thomas said.

Teachers are telling students about the increase and "we're also doing a letter-writing campaign," she added.

But GED students shouldn't take the tests just to beat the fee increase, she cautioned.

"If they're not ready, it's going to cost them even more money," Thomas said. "If they don't pass the test, then they're going to have to pay the higher amount and they're out the (money). It's very important that they're ready."

The American Council on Education, which is the GED administrator, and Pearson VUE, a specialist in computer-based academic testing, are teaming up to expand student access to GED testing nationwide.

They announced the new testing fee structure in March.

"To us, this should have come out next (July 1)," Thomas said. "We needed a year to prepare, but we weren't given that luxury."

GED preparation services are free, however, for the state's 90,000 adult learners. There were 921 who went through the program in Hall between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010.

Antwone Butler of Gainesville said he had planned to be finished with the GED program by August. But with the fee going up, "I'm going to try to have four subjects done by July."

Asked if thought he'll be ready before the deadline, he said, "With the (new) prices, I don't have any choice. I'm going to have to be ready."

Brenda Brown of Gainesville was more resigned to the fee increase.

"Everything is going up and we need this (program)," she said. "I believe in education. Education is part of what the country was built on, just like the Bible was."

People who really "want (the diploma) are going to find a way to get it," Brown said.

Robert Bates, lead instructor at the Gainesville-Hall County Adult Learning Center, said some people can go through the GED program in three to six months while for others the work takes two years or more.

"There are very few people we can't help at all," he said.