South Georgia State College, a state college of the University System of Georgia, is a multi-campus, student-centered institution offering high-quality associate and select baccalaureate degree programs. The institution provides innovative teaching and learning experiences, a rich array of student activities and athletic programs, access to unique ecological sites, and residential options to create a diverse, globally-focused, and supportive learning environment.
(SGSC Mission Statement, approved 2012)
In academic year 2023-2024 SGSC offered three associate degree programs (A. A., A. S., and A. S. in Nursing) with nineteen academic transfer pathways--and seven bachelor’s degree programs (B. S. in Nursing, B. S. in Biological Sciences, B. S. in Management, B. S. in Long-Term Healthcare Management,
B. S. in Public Service Leadership, B. S. in Elementary/Special Education, B. S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology). The former B. A. in Professional Business and Technical Writing was deactivated in January 2023 due to low enrollments. Associate’s degree-level students comprised 66.3% of SGSC’s fall 2023 enrollment.
SGSC’s mission, completion priorities, and student body demographics clearly align. The institution consistently enrolls primarily “traditional” students (84.6% fall 2023, excluding dual-enrolled). However, a variety of student-support services for all students is extremely important at SGSC, where for fall 2023 51.9% of all students were Pell Grant recipients (59%, excluding dual-enrolled), over one-third of entering freshmen were enrolled in an LS math corequisite course, a little less than one-third were first-generation college students, and 15.4% were non-traditional (adult learners). Such student demographic data has led SGSC to employ Momentum Year/Mindset/ASPIRE strategies focusing on helping at-risk students to succeed and earn a degree, preferably at SGSC but also as potential transfer students to other USG institutions.
The “Enrollment and Demographic Trends” and “Underserved Enrollment Trends” tables (Appendix Tables A and B, respectively) provide a good look at the SGSC student body’s characteristics. In addition to the data in the tables, it is noteworthy that 91.1% of SGSC’s total fall 2023 enrollment were Georgia residents (typically SGSC enrolls students from approximately 70% of the 159 Georgia counties), 79.5% of fall 2023 enrollment was from ten counties in our region of Georgia, and 8.9% were from other states or foreign countries. The students represented in these enrollment demographics help “to create a diverse, globally-focused learning environment” (SGSC Mission Statement).
While this report focuses on AY 2023-2024 demographics, strategies, and metrics, it is helpful to present a clear picture of who we are as we have entered the current academic year; consequently, there will be some references below to significant fall 2024 enrollment trends for comparison to our five-year journey through resilience and transformation.
Navigating Enrollment Changes
South Georgia State College's journey over the past five years reflects a resilient institution that has faced significant challenges and adapted accordingly. From a peak enrollment of 2,346 students in Fall 2019, SGSC's numbers reached 1,853 by Fall 2024—a 21% decrease that tells only part of the story. This decline masks SGSC's efforts to stabilize and rebound after enrollment sharply dropped during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. By Fall 2024, enrollment has shown steady recovery, marking the success of SGSC's adaptive strategies in a difficult higher education environment.
Changing Student Demographics
The demographics of SGSC's student body have transformed considerably. Since the Fall of 2019, the Hispanic student population has grown from 8.35% to 11.49% by the Fall of 2024, underscoring SGSC's expanding role in serving Hispanic communities. This increase highlights both changing demographics and SGSC's broader appeal.
On the other hand, African American enrollment shifted downward, from 28.73% in 2019 to 22.50% by 2024. While the decline stabilized post-2020, it remains an area that calls for ongoing institutional focus and outreach. Meanwhile, the female student majority has not only held steady but slightly increased, from 66.75% in 2019 to 67.72% in 2024, presenting continued challenges and opportunities for recruiting and retaining male students.
Evolving Student Needs and Enrollment Patterns
One major shift has been the growing proportion of part-time students, which increased from 37.08% in 2019 to 41.20% in 2024. This trend reflects broader societal changes as more students balance academic goals with employment and family obligations. This shift suggests a need for flexible program options to meet evolving student needs.
Supporting Vulnerable Populations
SGSC's support for underserved populations reveals both progress and areas for growth. Since 2019, the percentage of Pell Grant recipients has declined from 63.30% to 57.65% in 2024 (excluding dual enrollment), potentially signaling shifts in the economic status of students or changes in financial aid access.
First-generation student representation also fluctuated significantly, peaking in 2021 at 42.60% before settling at 29.57% by 2024. These shifts point to both challenges and opportunities in supporting this essential demographic. Similarly, the proportion of adult learners has slightly decreased, from 18.90% in 2019 to 17.43% in 2024, suggesting further opportunities for program innovation and enhanced support services to better serve adult students.
Advancing Student Success
One of SGSC's most positive trends has been in student outcomes. Since 2019, first-year retention rates have improved from 46.3% to 52.5% in 2024, signaling the impact of support initiatives aimed at student success. SGSC's graduation rates also tell a story of progress, with three-year graduation rates rising from 19.1% for the 2017 cohort to 22.9% for the 2021 cohort, including a peak of 26.7% for the 2020 cohort. These gains underscore SGSC's commitment to improving student outcomes.
Shifts in Degree Production
Degree production at SGSC has evolved to reflect changing priorities. While total degree completions fell from 413 in 2019 to 352 in 2024, bachelor's degree awards rose from 69 to 102, suggesting success in expanding four-year programs. Meanwhile, associate degree production declined from 302 to 200, indicating both programmatic shifts and broader challenges.
Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Implications
This five-year journey suggests several important themes for SGSC's future:
- Resilience in Crisis: SGSC has shown resilience through its recovery post-pandemic.
- Demographic Shifts: The growth in Hispanic student enrollment and the decrease in African American enrollment present opportunities and challenges.
- Part-Time Enrollment Trends: The increase in part-time students underscores the need for program flexibility and support services.
- Positive Student Outcomes: Improvement in retention and graduation rates suggests effective student success strategies that can be further strengthened.
- Focus on Bachelor's Degrees: The growth in degree awards may provide a strategic direction for future program offerings.
The past five years have underscored SGSC's ability to adapt to changing student needs while fulfilling its mission of providing accessible, quality education. The institution's resilience and dedication provide a strong foundation for continued growth and success.
Benchmark, Aspirational, and Competitor Institution and Student Achievement
In selecting a benchmark, aspirational, and competitor institution, SGSC focuses on performance in two specific areas related to student success. As required in SACS COC standards (8.1, Student Achievement), both areas are identified in the SGSC website’s information on student achievement. Because SGSC, like her eight sister institutions in the USG’s state college sector, is primarily an associate’s degree-granting institution with a select number of bachelor’s degree programs (see Mission Statement), the retention and graduation rate student achievement focus is on associate’s degree-seeking students. Among the measures included in SGSC’s student achievement goals are the following most significant college completion goals (achievement targets are discussed below):
- One-year retention rates for full-time associate degree-seeking student cohorts, fall 2019 – fall 2023
- Three-year graduation rates for full-time associate degree-seeking student cohorts, fall 2017 – fall 2021
Since SGSC is a member institution of the USG and is classified by the System as one of nine state colleges, all of whom have quite similar missions and follow the same USG directives, policies, goals, initiatives, and strategic plan, it makes sense to choose a benchmark, aspirational, and competitor institution from among the USG state colleges. That sector’s data on the bulleted student achievement measures above continues to identify Georgia Highlands as a high-performing institution in the state college sector and the benchmark, aspirational, and competitor institution to which we have compared ourselves since the inception of institutional benchmarking.
The data in Appendix Table C shows that the one-year institution-specific retention rate for SGSC’s FTFT associate degree-seeking students has remained consistent at a 50.4% five-year average from fall 2019 through fall 2023 cohorts, while the institution-specific average for all nine USG state colleges for the same period was 54.8%. The Georgia Highlands average for the period was 62.3%, well above the SGSC and System averages. SGSC’s goal is a one-year FTFT associate’s degree-seeking student retention rate of 55% for the fall 2025 student cohort. The fall 2022 and fall 2023 cohort rates of 52.9% and 52.5% are a good start from the 49% average for the prior three years.
While the SGSC-specific one-year retention rate for FTFT degree-seeking students has been consistently lower than the average for all nine USG state colleges, the one-year retention rate of former SGSC students within the USG over the five-year period averages 64.1%, while for the same period the average for all USG state colleges is lower at 61.7%. Given the A. A. and A. S. transfer mission of USG state colleges and the ease of transfer among USG institutions facilitated by a common core curriculum, it is significant that SGSC prepares students well for receiving institutions. SGSC’s goal is to attain a one-year retention rate within the USG of 65% by the fall 2025 cohort.
The three-year graduation rate data in Appendix Table D compares the five-year SGSC rates to the average rates for the same period for all nine USG state colleges. “Institution-specific” refers to students graduating from SGSC, “System-wide for SGSC” refers to former SGSC students who graduate from any USG institution, and “System-wide for all state colleges” refers to students who began at a USG institution, transferred to another USG institution, and graduated from the USG institution to which they transferred.
The table shows that the three-year institution-specific graduation rate for SGSC’s FTFT associate degree-seeking students is at a five-year average of 20.8% (fall 2017 through fall 2021 cohorts), while the institution-specific average for all nine state colleges is 16% for the same period. USG by the Numbers reports show that The Georgia Highlands State College average rate for the five-year period 2017-2021 is 19 %, significantly higher than the average state college rate, but, for the second consecutive year in our college completion reporting, below the SGSC average. The rationale for an SGSC metric goal of a 25% three-year FTFT associate’s degree-seeking student graduation rate for the fall 2023 cohort is based on the fall 2020 cohort rate of 26.7%, which was the highest (by far) three-year graduation rate in the state college sector for the fall 2020 cohort. Georgia Highlands had the second-highest fall 2020 rate in our sector (16.2%). Still, SGSC must consider that our fall 2021 cohort’s achievement (most recent) dropped to 22.9%.
It is noteworthy that SGSC’s institution-specific graduation rate has typically exceeded the average graduation rate for all USG state colleges. In addition, the rate for the most recent student cohort of former SGSC students transferring to other USG state colleges (23.2%, fall 2021) far exceeds the average rate for all USG state college associate’s degree-seeking students transferring within the System (15.8%, fall 2021). SGSC has definitely made significant progress in three-year graduation rates!
Student Success Inventory
The institutional environment underwent some significant changes, with interim administration over much of the past year, resulting in uncertainty in the future of some initiatives. Overall, we took advantage of the circumstances to identify our successes and our failures and to determine our best path forward. Key players in this work were Brandi Elliott, Associate Vice President of Student Success; Dr. Katy Dye, Assistant Professor of Biology; Sara Selby, Interim Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs; and Dr. Rosa Guedes, Professor of Biology
Throughout this year, we learned that when things went well, it was usually because the right mix of people worked well together, communicated well, were respectful of one another, and kept the best interests of our students as the focus. When they didn’t go well, it was usually because of too few people to get the job done or a lack of resources.
In the year ahead, we will continue to promote our Boost Mindset workshops and interventions to encourage increased participation by students and faculty, as seen in the strategies for success template below. We are determining how that initiative can best be assessed and establishing a plan for continual evaluation and expansion.
We are adjusting two of our goals to meld with our priority areas of at-risk students and collaborative advising. The SGSC “Big Idea”: Concierge Coaching for at-risk students was suspended for AY 2023-2024 due to lack of student participation after spring 2023. No measures of success data could be collected. Contributing factors include lack of student response to communications and availability of advisor coaches. Due to budget constraints, particularly related to enrollment decreases resulting from the COVID pandemic, we currently employ only one professional advisor who works with students on academic probation and suspension, in-coming freshmen with a HSGPA of 2.4 or below, and VA students; an admin assistant who advises students in two of our bachelor’s degree programs; and an admin specialist who advises dual enrollment students. Otherwise, the academic advising responsibility rests on faculty—with some assistance from Student Success personnel and the college’s registrar. We have also instituted a new advising pilot program that may impact if and how we reconfigure coaching. Support for at-risk students is still very much a priority area, but continued institutional improvement demands that we address services to all students, so if we continue concierge coaching, we will explore offering it to all students on an opt-in basis.
We have already adjusted our goal of creating fuller schedules and promoting completion of area A courses by establishing a Course Analysis Committee that has been making course scheduling recommendations that aim to support fuller schedules based on data and survey results. That committee will next recommend a two-year schedule of courses be made available so that students are better informed and can make purposeful choices towards timely program completion. That committee will also consider alternative scheduling options for students with learning support co-requisites to increase their opportunities for success. This strategy is identified in the strategies for success template below.
Two of our top-level strategies have moved to a maintenance phase. First, because our undergraduate research Quality Enhancement Plan has now become an established part of our institutional identity, in accordance with the SACS COC intent of a QEP, we will maintain it, and it will remain an opportunity for expansion and improved assessment.
Second, the strategy to establish student connections with potential careers continues but has been significantly hampered by the loss of our fulltime career counselor position. We are relying heavily on Steppingblocks digital career exploration software, as well as Tutor.com, to provide a self-service experience for students. Student Success staff have been trained on how to refer students in need of career or pathway exploration to Steppingblocks. It was added to the website in Spring 2023 and to SOARs (new freshman orientation and registration programs). Student Success staff conducted faculty training on how to find Steppingblocks on the SGSC website and how to refer students to it. Examples of the kinds of data we can obtain on student usage are numbers of web sessions and topics; user activities; personality tests; sessions by location, weekday, time, module, and top searches. While career counseling continues, it is no longer one of our college completion strategies to be reported on in our annual completion reports.
For 2023-24, the two strategies for success taking highest priority were (1) “BOOST” mindset workshops/interventions and (2) improved course scheduling and advising. Information for those two strategies is included below.
