MGA expands reach, boosts enrollment as ‘cliff’ nears

Middle Georgia State University saw a 5% increase in enrollment for its fall semester following efforts to bring in new populations in preparation for the “enrollment cliff” — a steep drop in the number of high school graduates expected later this decade.

The public university enrolled a total of 8,828 students — across its several central Georgia campuses, including its main one in Macon — up from 8,409 students from last year, according to an Oct. 22 press release.

Nontraditional enrollment — focusing on non-high school graduates entering college — increased by 37% and transfer student enrollment grew by 13%, said Stephen Shultheis, MGA’s vice president for enrollment management.

A little under half of the university’s students attend the school fully virtually, while 55% of students attend in-person classes.

“Our focus on affordability, accessibility, and strong academic programs has positioned Middle Georgia State as a university of choice, and that focus is paying off in the record enrollments we’ve seen in consecutive years,” MGA president Christopher Blake said in the release. 

Georgia’s public universities receive funding not only from tuition but also from state appropriations. Those funds are based on enrollment counts, and a 5% enrollment increase means “significantly more” funding for the school, Schultheis added.

“It has been well known that [the enrollment cliff] is happening, so we have been trying to figure out other populations while still graduating students to grow the workforce in the region,” he said.

MGA has identified populations of people who have some credits but never finished their degrees. Officials have also talked to corporations about getting their workers enrolled in classes, Schultheis said. 

He added that the university has focused on growing its education and nursing programs, as those jobs are highly in demand within the state. The university began offering courses for paraprofessionals to become certified teachers and will offer in the spring an accelerated four-semester nursing program for individuals holding bachelor’s degrees in areas other than nursing.

The university has also seen success in its new associate degree in nursing program offered in Warner Robins, Schultheis said, with 174 new students signing up for the first cohort.

The university also works closely with the Bibb County School District’s dual-enrollment program and Central Georgia Technical College — a two-year public school — to pull in more students, he noted. Students at the technical college can “map” their credits over to MGA and meet with counselors to see about transferring to a bachelor’s degree program at the university.

The overall annual number of degrees awarded from the state’s public universities also recently reached an all-time high of 82,607. Schultheis said while MGA has seen “steady graduation numbers” over the past couple of years, the number of granted degrees should “quickly accelerate” as more students finish their course requirements.