Georgia State University
- Enrollment, Fall 2014: 32,556 students
- Location: downtown Atlanta
- Budget: $738,077,043 FY 2015 original budget
- Degrees: Four-year university with 250 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in more than 100 fields of study.
- Per semester tuition, FY 2015: $4,056, in-state; $13,161, out-of-state
- Economic impact: $1.5 billion during FY 2010
Georgia Perimeter College
- Enrollment, Fall 2014: 21,371 students
- Location: Five locations around metro Atlanta
- Budget: $177,674,408 FY 2015 original budget
- Degrees: Primarily a two-year college
- Per semester tuition, FY 2015: $1,330, in-state; $5,034, out-of-state
- Economic impact: $691 million during FY 2010
- Etc: Founded by the citizens of DeKalb County and the DeKalb Board of Education. It became a college in 1964.
Source: University System of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Perimeter College
University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby, who has already led five college mergers, now wants the biggest yet: combining Georgia State University with Georgia Perimeter College to create the largest college in the state.
Huckaby plans to make that recommendation Tuesday to the Board of Regents, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned exclusively. The Regents, the University System’s governing body, would have to approve the proposal.
The new institution would be a mega college with almost 54,000 students. The merger would also be notable for joining Georgia State, a four-year research institution, with Georgia Perimeter, a mostly two-year college with wide access.
The merger would be the sixth consolidation in the past three years of University System institutions.
Huckaby first suggested mergers in September 2011, a few months after he took over as chancellor, as part of a large-scale plan to deal with declining state revenues and make the system more efficient. Regents agreed to merge eight institutions into four new ones two years ago, which shrank the system from 35 to 31 colleges.
The fifth and most recent merger, Kennesaw State University with Southern Polytechnic State University, was approved by regional accreditors in December.
The impact of the Georgia State/Georgia Perimeter merger on students, degree programs and tuition, is unknown. Complex details, including how to combine two-year and four-year program, would have to be worked out during the consolidation process, which has taken other state colleges up to 18 months.
Officials at both institutions declined comment when contacted by the AJC Monday. A message Georgia State sent to faculty and staff late Monday said the consolidation would greatly improve opportunities for students and expand the university’s “reach and impact” across metro Atlanta and the state.
Georgia State has been lauded nationally for its successes at student retention and graduation rates for minority, low-income and first-generation students. President Barack Obama recognized the university late last year, and its initiatives in data tracking and data analysis have been used as a model for other institutions in the state and around the country.
The downtown Atlanta university receives many of its transfer students from Georgia Perimeter and shares a campus in Alpharetta with the two-year college, which also has campuses in Clarkston, Decatur, Dunwoody and Newton County.
A consolidation would put a permanent president at Georgia Perimeter, which has had an interim leader since 2012, when financial mismanagement led to sanctions from a regional accreditor and the president’s resignation. The college, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in September, has since had its accreditation fully restored.
For Georgia State, the merger proposal comes as the university looks to expand its footprint in downtown Atlanta with redevelopment of Turner Field and the surrounding area into a 30,000-seat sport stadium and mixed-use retail and residential development.
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