Enrollment hits record high at North Georgia

DAHLONEGA - A record 5,652 students enrolled this fall in North Georgia College & State University (NGCSU), marking a 2.8 percent increase over fall 2008 enrollment.

As a whole, the University System of Georgia (USG) saw a 6.7 percent enrollment increase from fall 2008 to 2009, well above the 4.8 percent growth in enrollment from fall 2007 to fall 2008. The system’s 35 public colleges and universities enrolled 301,892 students this fall, an increase of 18,914 students over fall 2008. Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. announced the latest numbers today in a report to the Board of Regents.

The numbers represent a 6.7 percent increase from fall 2008 to fall 2009. Since fall 2006, enrollment in the USG has grown 16 percent, or by 41,947 students.

“The trend lines historically are up; we have grown just above 16 percent since fall 2006,” Davis said. “We have exploding demand for public higher education as individuals prepare themselves for careers requiring a college education in a changing and uncertain economy.”

The USG fall 2009 Semester Enrollment Report shows enrollment gains across the board. Thirty-four USG institutions posted a record high enrollment this fall. Ten institutions had double-digit growth from fall 2008 to fall 2009, accounting for 6,072 students or 32.1 percent of the overall enrollment increase. Eight of these institutions are in either the state or two-year college sectors, which are the sectors identified in the regents’ Strategic Plan to accommodate the bulk of the USG’s projected enrollment growth through 2020.

The USG’s six largest institutions had 41.1 percent of the enrollment growth, or 7,775 students.

· Georgia State University enrolled an additional 2,198 students for total enrollment of 30,427, a 7.8 percent increase.

· Georgia Perimeter College’s enrollment grew by 1,741 students to 24,549 or 7.6 percent.

· Georgia Southern University’s enrollment grew by 1,322 students to 19,086 or 7.4 percent.

· Georgia Tech enrolled 869 more students, a 4.5 percent increase to hit 20,293 students.

· Kennesaw State University’s enrollment increased by 940 students to 22,389 or 4.4 percent.

· The University of Georgia had an additional 705 students, or growth of 2.1 percent for a record high of 34,885 students.

First-time freshmen enrollment continued to show gains, increasing 5.7 percent over this past fall to a total of 49,157 freshmen this fall. North Georgia enrolled 823 beginning freshmen this fall.

As demand increases for higher education, enrollment becomes more competitive, according to Jennifer Chadwick, director of undergraduate admissions. She reported that this fall’s overall freshman average SAT increased by 10 points from fall 2008 and the freshman average GPA increased from 3.34 to 3.44 for same period.

Diversity in the USG continues to increase, as evidenced by the numbers in the enrollment report, and minority enrollment saw the largest percentage increase from fall 2008 to fall 2009. This was reflected also at North Georgia, where minority students increased by 141 this fall.

North Georgia also saw gains in the number of international students this fall with an additional 117 international students.

The system’s full-time equivalent enrollment (FTE) for fall 2009 is 266,575, an increase of 7.9 percent over fall 2008, adding 19,407 FTE students. This increase is above the overall enrollment increase of 6.7 percent and is a record high for the University System of Georgia.

North Georgia saw an FTE enrollment increase of 3.9 percent, from 4,847 to 5,036, from fall 2008 to 2009. The increase in FTE enrollment indicates that more students are taking additional hours of courses, compared to students in fall 2008.

If attendance at this fall’s admissions open house was any indication, the university will have similar growth increases in fall 2010, when two new residence halls will be available for students. More than 1,600 people – including prospective students and their families – attended the event in November. The next open house is scheduled for April.

The USG fall 2009 enrollment report is available online at: http://www.usg.edu/research/students/enroll/fy2010/fall09.pdf