Middle Georgia State University (MGA) is a five-campus institution, providing selective undergraduate and graduate education throughout the middle Georgia region. MGA serves a diverse student body through traditional, online, and hybrid delivery of curriculum. It is the mission of MGA to educate and graduate inspired lifelong learners whose scholarship and careers enhance the region and the state. The institution’s vision is to transform individuals and our communities through extraordinary higher learning. Four core values underscore this vision: stewardship, engagement, adaptability, and learning.
Middle Georgia State University is an access institution and is offering 27 programs at the baccalaureate level, nine at the master’s level, and two at the doctoral level in the 2024-25 academic year. The University awarded a total of 1,494 degrees, including 992 baccalaureate degrees in FY 2024.
Census data defined the fall 2024 student body to be White Non-Hispanic (50.5%), Black/African American Non-Hispanic (29.7%), and under 25 years of age (69.5%). 56.5% of the student body was enrolled full-time. Female students comprised 54.0% and male students 46.0% of the student body.
In fall 2024, 91.1% of enrolled students were Georgia residents, representing 141 counties. 74 out-of-state counties were also represented in the enrolled student body. Out-of-state students came primarily from Texas, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Alabama. International students represented 1.7% of the total fall 2024 enrollment.
The fall 2024 student body was composed of 3043 Pell recipients (36.2% of Undergraduates), 1,438 (17.1%) first-generation college students, and 2,566 (30.5%) adult learners. There were 241 military students who comprised 2.87% of the total enrollment, and the student population identifying as ethnic minority was 3,647 (43.3%).
MGA has a blended mission in that it serves both the academically gifted students in dual enrollment, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs, while also serving as a point of access to higher education for underrepresented populations. Championing student success is the 2023–2028 strategic imperative for MGA and is dependent on data-driven decision-making, better service to students, executing standards of excellence in all academic programs, more efficient use of faculty and staff resources, growing student engagement at all degree levels, and utilization of tools to measure and communicate performance. Keeping students on track to program completion is the CCG goal most closely aligned with MGA’s strategic priorities. Outcomes for this goal include improved persistence and retention rates and an increase in the number of students completing their degrees on time. To fulfill its vision of “transformation of individuals and their communities through extraordinary higher learning,” MGA has identified several high-impact strategies to enhance retention and graduation.
Benchmark: Columbus State University
Competitor institution: Valdosta State University
Aspirational: University of North Georgia
