College enrollment up
The University System of Georgia’s largest institutions, by population
Institution, Current enrollment; Fall 2013 enrollment; % change
University of Georgia, 35,197; 34,536; 1.9%
Georgia State University, 32,556; 32,165; 1.2%
Kennesaw State University, 25,714; 24,629; 4.4%
Georgia Tech, 23,108; 21,471; 7.6%
Georgia Perimeter College, 21,371; 21,123; 1.2%
Source: University System of Georgia
Enrollment at the state’s public colleges and universities increased slightly this fall, reversing two years of declines within the system.
Fall 2014 enrollment for the University System of Georgia reached 312,936 students, an increase of 1.1 percent — or 3,467 students — over last fall, according to data released by the system Friday.
“While our fall 2014 enrollment is encouraging, we still have much work ahead,” Chancellor Hank Huckaby said Friday. “We must stay focused on our Complete College Georgia Initiative, continue to recruit and retain students, and fully support them through their completion of college.”
The Complete College Georgia Initiative is an effort to add 250,000 college graduates in the state by 2020.
Enrollment is tied to how the state funds the University System. Fewer students enrolled mean fewer dollars for the institutions.
Last year’s enrollment decline resulted in about a $20 million decrease in what the Board of Regents, the system’s governing board, was allowed to request in state funding. About $7.6 million in additional funding is included in the system’s funding request for fiscal 2016, which begins July 1.
Fall 2013 enrollment dropped 1.6 percent from the previous year, when the number of students declined 1.2 percent from fall 2011's enrollment. The state's declines mirrored national trends that saw almost 500,000 fewer college students between 2012 and 2013, according to census data released in September. National figures also dropped two consecutive years, for a cumulative decline of about 930,000 students.
Before those two years, the state’s University System had not seen enrollment declines since the early 1990s, when the system changed its academic calendar from a quarter to semester system.
Eighteen of the system’s 31 institutions saw enrollment increases this fall, including the University of Georgia, Georgia State and Georgia Tech, three of the system’s four research institutions. Georgia Gwinnett College saw the largest percentage increase, with 11.4 percent, or 1,109 more students this fall than the previous year. Fort Valley State University, a historically black college in Middle Georgia, lost 586 students, or 18.4 percent the largest percentage decline in the system.
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