Georgia College and State University 2023

Georgia College is Georgia’s designated public liberal arts institution. As a residential institution, home to a largely traditional age college student, GCSU aims to offer students highly experiential and high-impact experiences. GCSU is still committed to its student success/Momentum Year plan, GC Journeys, and was lucky to experience a 24.8% increase in students participating in these experiences—largely explained by the decrease in Covid 19 cases and the return to face-to-face experiences.

We experienced an enrollment drop due the hangover effects of Covid-19 and Georgia College’s status as test required for Fall 2022 (we had over 1,000 incomplete applications that we couldn’t act on). Despite this, we saw an increase in retention and our four year graduation rates hit an all-time high (54%), which suggests that we are doing an excellent job supporting students and offering transformative experiences once they enroll at Georgia College.

We have been focused heavily on retention, with a University Retention Committee made up of administrators across the campus. That said, we are looking at the future as well. This summer, President Cox convened an Academic Innovation Taskforce, as well as a Graduate Taskforce. These two groups studied trends in higher education and made recommendations to better position GC for the future. Below is our participation data in our Momentum Plan (GC Journeys).

GC Journeys Participation Data

Enrollment Trends:

Student Body Profile:

• Undergraduate: 5,681
• Graduate: 1130
• Total enrollment: 6,811

Student Body Demographics:

Other:

Institutional Priorities:

Georgia College & State University’s institutional priorities have been driven largely by our mission as the state’s designated liberal arts university. As such, Georgia College & State University’s priorities have been focused largely on undergraduate education, offering a residential and high-impact educational experience, with a focus on experiential learning and high-impact practices, which has been the focus of our Momentum Year Strategy. We just won the 2023 AASCU Award for Excellence & Innovation Award for Student Success and College Completion for this work. However, with the upcoming demographic shift, Georgia College & State University is also looking to expand graduate programming, and reach new student populations.

Additionally, GCSU just launched our new strategic plan, Imagine 2030, which outlines our commitment to advancing these experiences, while recognizing a need to focus on wellness, advancement, etc. Part of this strategic vision involved studying our aspirational peers: Elon University, College of Charleston, Miami University of Ohio, and the College of New Jersey. In October 2023, we officially launched our new strategic plan and have tasked all units to come up with plans to align to the pillars by Spring 2024. The Strategic Planning committee has come up with a robust assessment plan.

Additionally, through working closely with our Office of Institutional Research, our University Retention Committee, our Graduate Education Taskforce, our Academic Innovation Taskforce, as well as other datasets, the Strategic Plan has benchmarked GCSU against our peer institutions, as well as our aspirational peers, while planning for the future (demographic shifts, in demand programs, etc). The active benchmarks that we regularly monitor and publish in our factbook include: cost of attendance, four and six year graduation rates, and academic year salaries of faculty by rank.

Below is a list of GCSU aspirational, comparator, and COPLAC Peers:

Aspirational Peers:

• Bradley University
• Christopher Newport University
• Elon University
• Emerson College
• James Madison University
• SUNY College at Geneseo
• The College of New Jersey
• Truman State University
• College of Charleston
• Miami University of Ohio

Comparator Peers:

• Ramapo College of New Jersey
• University of Mary Washington
• Winthrop University
• Eastern Connecticut State University
• Longwood University
• University of Montevallo
• SUNY College at Geneseo
• Radford University
• Murray State University
• Morehead State University
• Truman State University
• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
• University of North Carolina at Asheville
• University Wisconsin- Stevens Point
• University of Wisconsin- La Crosse

COPLAC Peers (Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges)

• Ramapo College of New Jersey
• St. Mary’s College of Maryland
• Keene State College
• University of Mary Washington
• Eastern Connecticut State University
• Georgia College and State University
• University of Montevallo
• Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
• Northern Vermont University
• SUNY College at Geneseo
• Sonoma State University
• Henderson State University
• The University of Virginia’s College at Wise
• Fort Lewis College
• University of Illinois Springfield
• Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
• The Evergreen State College
• University of Minnesota-Morris
• University of Maine at Farmington
• University of South Carolina Aiken
• Shepherd University
• Midwestern State University
• Truman State University
• New College of Florida
• University of North Carolina at Asheville
• University of Wisconsin-Superior
• University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
• Kentucky State University