Sonny Perdue, 2022 file photo. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
If you’re a Georgia college or technical student, it may be getting easier to find a study buddy – the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia are both seeing significant increases in enrollment, agency heads said at a House budget meeting Thursday.
Chancellor Sonny Perdue said last fall saw enrollment increases at all 26 USG institutions over 2023 for a total of 5.9% growth of just over 20,000 students.
The school with the largest proportional gain was the University of West Georgia, where the student body swelled by 12.7%, or 1,625 students. Georgia Tech followed with 11.3% growth, or 5,402 students, surpassing Georgia State University to become the USG institution with the highest number of enrolled students.
Compared with the fall 2020 semester, USG institutions have grown by 6.8%, but 11 institutions are at a lower enrollment than they were that year.
Perdue credited the growth in part to the Georgia Match program, launched in 2023, which mails out letters to high school students with financial and enrollment information on Georgia colleges and technical schools they are qualified for based on their GPAs.
“We think we’re getting some of those students who, college may not have been on their mind at all, and helping them change their lives for the future,” Perdue said.
Perdue also credited growth in the state’s high school dual enrollment program for filling more college seats.
Fall 2024 saw 21,109 students participate in the program, a record-high and a 39.5% increase over the previous year. USG chalks the increase up to a change in test requirements that took effect in fall 2023.
Technical schools Commissioner Greg Dozier said in early 2020, the state’s technical schools were still recovering from the 2008 economic crash.
“We were seeing enrollment growth for the first time since the Great Recession, and then the pandemic hit,” he said.
Enrollment shrank from nearly 144,000 students in 2020 to just over 131,000 at the low point in 2022, but Dozier said enrollment last fall eclipsed pre-pandemic numbers and was the highest for the system since 2013.
Last year’s enrollment was just under 149,000, a 9.2% increase over 2023.
The formula the state government uses to calculate its share of the state’s higher ed price tag is primarily based on the cost to educate students, with total credit hours from two years prior as the main input, so more students translates to more money for USG and TCSG down the road.
Hammering out a state budget that allocates funding to agencies like USG will be one of the top priorities for lawmakers in the 2025 Legislature and who are set to stay in session through early April. Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed fiscal year 2026 and amended 2025 budgets include just under $100 million for a new medical research building at Augusta University and $118.8 million for other capital projects at different schools. Kemp’s plans for the technical college system include $76 million on capital projects and $15.4 million for high-demand aviation, commercial trucking and nursing programs.
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