Time appears to have run out for East Georgia State College.
After years of declining enrollment, the University System of Georgia on Tuesday announced a plan to consolidate the school into Georgia Southern University, which is about 40 miles from East Georgia State. The recommendation by USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue will be voted on by the Board of Regents at its scheduled meeting next week. Ironically, that meeting will be held at Georgia Southern.
The USG’s consolidation initiative began in 2011, in what it describes as an attempt “to prioritize efficiency and control administrative costs.” There were 35 schools in the USG when the initiative began. There will be 25 if the East Georgia State consolidation is approved. USG officials did not specify in its announcement when the consolidation would be completed and declined to discuss details Tuesday.
EGSC had been experiencing low enrollment for years. The school had about 3,000 students in 2015 but saw those numbers dwindle after COVID-19. Last fall, it had just 1,826 students, the second-lowest enrollment in the Georgia system.
And because the USG funding formula is largely based on enrollment, when a school loses students, it also loses public dollars. Five years ago, the school’s total budget was about $31.4 million. Its budget for this current fiscal year is slightly more than $24 million.
Located in Swainsboro, the school focused on offering two-year associate degrees. Its leadership recognized years ago that it needed to do a better job of recruiting and retaining students. If the college could increase enrollment, president David Schecter told employees in 2022, “I think there will be a little bit more help from the state coming our way.”
Those efforts appear to have come up short.
In a statement, Perdue said the USG would make sure, “East Georgia State College’s legacy of creating knowledge and prosperity continues within the Swainsboro community and beyond.”
According to the USG, its consolidation efforts have led to $30 million in administrative savings.
This is not the first time Georgia Southern has absorbed another school. In 2017, Georgia Southern consolidated with the former Armstrong State University in Savannah.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
“The dollars saved through consolidation have always been reinvested directly in our campuses — fueling the hiring of strong faculty, expanding student support services and driving measurable improvements in retention and graduation rates,” Perdue said. “Our commitment in making this recommendation is no different. We will preserve access to higher education locally while ensuring that we keep improving the experience and success of our students.”
The consolidation would also need approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
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