When I was a student, I don't ever recall having to pay extra for football tickets, anywhere in the sections allotted to students--your athletic fee covered the expense. You lined up with a student ID (early), and you got in--provided the student section didn't fill up before you got to the gate. If you wanted to bring a (non-GT) date, you had to buy a season pass to bring your date into the game, but that was it.
The current policy is just dumb, as I see it. Why make it harder for the students to attend? They are our bread and butter, in terms of rabid fandom. (we don't have a horde of clueless rednecks, like the un-Iversity of Georgia) Are they that desperate for money? Shoot, I'd pay an extra $10 per game for my ticket, if it would guarantee another student sitting in the stands, raising hell.