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Georgia Institute of Technology Campus Plan Update 2025

 

As Georgia Tech advances its ambitious Big Bet 1 — to be a national leader in outcomes and value for all students — the Institute’s engagement in Complete College Georgia is critical to achieving record numbers in both enrollment and degree completion. This past academic year, Georgia Tech conferred more than 13,000 degrees, including over 4,800 bachelor’s degrees, a major step toward its goal of 15,000 annual graduates (at all levels) by 2030.[1],[2] By prioritizing both enrollment and degree attainment, Georgia Tech ensures that its graduates are prepared to drive economic growth and community impact across Georgia and beyond. 

Increased Enrollment Reflects Institute Commitment to Expanding Access 

The Fall 2024 cohort included 3,838 first-time, full-time students and 1,376 full-time transfer students, bringing Georgia Tech’s undergraduate enrollment to 18,786 bachelor’s degree-seeking students.[3],[4] In Academic Year 2024-2025, the top five majors among current undergraduate students are Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Business Administration, Aerospace Engineering, and Industrial Engineering with 83% of undergraduates pursuing STEM majors.[5]

Of the undergraduate student population, 61% are in-state students, 3,421 are Pell Grant recipients, and 1,561 identify as first-generation college students, reinforcing the Institute’s commitment to offering high-quality education to students with varied experiences and perspectives.

Graduation and Retention Rates Far Exceed National Averages 

For the Fall 2020 first-year entering class, the four-year graduation rate reached an all-time high of 70%, up from 66% for the previous cohort. Since the launch of Complete College Georgia in 2011, this rate has increased by approximately 30 percentage points. Additionally, students in the Fall 2018 cohort achieved a six-year graduation rate of 94%, marking another milestone and underscoring the Institute's success in supporting students to degree completion. 

Retention rates for first-year students are also a point of pride for Georgia Tech. The first-to-second-year retention rate for the Fall 2023 freshman cohort remained at 98% for the third cohort in a row. This consistently high retention rate highlights the strategic investments the Institute has made since the launch of Complete College Georgia in 2011 to ensure all students have the support and resources needed to succeed. See Appendix A for Georgia Tech’s historical graduation rate and retention rate trends by freshman cohort.

Georgia Tech’s ongoing success in retention and graduation metrics speaks to the Institute’s comprehensive approach to undergraduate education, ensuring that students not only begin but also complete their degrees, prepared for success beyond the classroom. Strategic direction for the Institute’s student success work is centralized within the Office of Undergraduate Education and Student Success (OUESS), formerly Office of Undergraduate Education, a new name reflecting Georgia Tech’s prioritization of student success efforts under one umbrella to emphasize the availability of these resources for all students.  Furthermore, our CCG efforts strategically align to the Institute’s ASPIRE strategies for institutional success:  

  1. Increase enrollment of low-income students, with a goal of increasing the percentage of the overall student body receiving Pell.  
  2. Improve four-year graduation rates.  
  3. Prioritize closing graduation and retention gaps for high-priority populations.  
  4. Enhance advising strategies through advisor training, best practices, and improved advising technology.  

Improve graduate student admission-to-enrollment yield through enhanced financial support.  

Success Inventory

Modernizing Retention Interventions and Refining Early Alerts (Georgia Institute of Technology-2025)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Modernizing Retention Interventions and Refining Early Alerts
Momentum Area: 
Change Management
Category: 
Change Management
Data
Early Alerts
Tutoring
Strategy/Project Description: 

On June 1, 2025, Georgia Tech launched Navigate360, a new digital platform designed to support academic advising, streamline student success efforts, and strengthen collaboration across campus. Built by EAB, Navigate360 serves as the Institute’s primary student success management system, bringing together advisors, faculty, and support staff in service of a more connected and proactive student experience. The launch represents a major milestone in Georgia Tech’s ongoing efforts to improve the undergraduate experience by enhancing the tools, processes, and partnerships that support students from orientation through graduation. Furthermore, using powerful data disaggregation and straightforward communication tools to reach students, Navigate360 provides us with the opportunity for continuous improvement of our retention interventions and early alert program.

Georgia Tech’s portfolio of retention interventions has historically included the following:

Intervention

Frequency

Purpose

Non-Registered Student Survey

Annually, during summer, using fall registration data

Contact students who are not registered for the upcoming academic year, identify barriers to registration, and connect to resources accordingly.

Summer Letter Campaign

Annually, during summer

Contact students who have just completed their first academic year at GT on academic warning or academic probation. Notify students of academic standing, explain the policy, and provide information about academic support resources.

Non-Continuing Student Survey

Annually

Identify primary reasons students in good academic standing leave the Institute and to identify those who may need assistance to return to Georgia Tech. Students reenrolling are assisted individually.

Midterm Progress Report (MPR)

Every fall and spring semester, when 40% of the term is complete

Alert students in 1000- and 2000-level courses they are off track academically. MPRs are communicated as S-Satisfactory or U-Unsatisfactory. Academic advisors and academic support specialists intervene accordingly.

Enrollment Campaign for Success Seminar (Students on Academic Probation)

Every fall and spring semester, during add/drop period

Invite eligible students to register for GT 2100-B: Student Success Seminar to support their academic recovery and share benefits of the course.
Activity Status: 
Refining/Maintaining
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 
  1. MPR Submission Compliance Rate: In Spring 2025, the submission deadline for MPRs was not extended with 99.95% of midterm grades reported, ensuring students and advisors had time to act on a midterm U before the withdrawal deadline. In Fall 2025, we again maintained the submission deadline with only 88 of 50,170 required midterm grades unreported representing a compliance rate of 99.8%. While the submission rate dropped marginally, near complete compliance represents the continued effectiveness of the multi-audience communication strategy.
  2. Existing Outreach Portfolio: We aimed to execute 100% of retention intervention in Navigate360 after June 1, 2025. While this goal was met for messaging campaigns and appointment campaigns, survey campaigns are not yet rolled out for all users. As such, the Summer 25 Non-Registered Student Campaign was conducted a hybrid using the messaging capability of Navigate360 and a Qualtrics survey.
  3. Campaign Effectiveness and Engagement: Pilot Navigate360 campaigns established baselines for campaign metrics, and the following targets were established:
    • 20% click-to-open rate. 
    • 50% of opened emails also click links. 
    • 10% appointments scheduled and attended. 
    • 100% of appointment summaries created.
  4. Improved Academic Self-Efficacy and College Navigational Skills: Of students who meet with an academic coach, the following targets were established:
    • Coach supported students participate in two or more support services at rate 40% higher than their comparative counterpart. 
    • 75% of students report that coaching impacted their decision to participate in student support services. 
    • Students grow substantively in academic efficacy from matriculation after working with an academic coach. 
    • 90% of students report increased confidence in their ability to address the academic risk indicator prompting academic coaching (academic standing, midterm progress report, etc.)
Progress and Adjustments: 

Using Navigate360, we can develop proactive and agile data-driven interventions that drive student action rather than relying solely on informational campaigns with no resource utilization feedback. As of Fall 2025, the following retention interventions have been reimagined and modernized:

Updated Interventions

Updated Approach

Summer Letter Campaign is now Academic Standing Coaching Appointment Campaign

Over Summer 2025, all students on academic warning and academic probation were invited to participate in academic coaching to develop new strategies for success before the fall term.

The following baselines were established:

  • Of 322 warning students included in the campaign, 9% (30 students) attended a coaching session.
  • Of 235 probation students included in the campaign, 7% (18 students) attended a coaching session.

We will compare academic outcomes in Fall 2025 for students that utilized academic coaching serving to those who did not.

Non-Continuing Student Survey is now First-Years Not Retained Analysis and Outreach

New in Fall 2025, we conducted an analysis of students in the Fall 2024 cohort not retained. Using shared advising notes, it is no longer necessary to ask students to provide the context of their stop-out or transfer. Additionally, we identified students that are possible to retain and are conducting outreach to those students to provide reenrollment support.
Of 103 students not retained, 55 are included in our reenrollment efforts.

Midterm Progress Report (MPR)

In Spring 2025, we executed a three-pronged communication strategy targeting multiple audience impacting the success of the early alert intervention, requiring cooperation from several campus partners. The communication strategy included: 

Faculty Outreach Campaign Deployed​ 

  • Informational (how MPRs are utilized by the Institute, students, advisors to support academic success).
  • Resources to support faculty communications to students.
  • Without pushing back the submission deadline, we had 40,648 total MPR grades reported out of a possible 40,667 (unique MPRs of more than 14,000 undergraduate students enrolled in 1000- and 2000-level courses), a compliance rate of 99.95%.

Student Awareness Campaign Deployed​ 

  • All students enrolled in 1000- and 2000-level courses received an email explaining MPRs, when they would be available, and what a U mean​s.
  • Registrar’s Office found new ways to open student grade viewing module, while leaving faculty input module open simultaneously.

New Academic Advisor Tools

  • Advisors were able to pull their own students lists using dashboards presenting MPRs by count​ and by course, filterable by major.

In Fall 2025, the three-pronged communication strategy was replicated, and we launched an appointment campaign to 780 students with 2 or more Us for academic coaching. All 2,233 students with one MPR U were invited to attend drop-in midterm coaching (attended by 10 students) and provided a video resource coaching students through taking action on a midterm U (viewed 40 times by 31 unique users, including ~5 advisors). As an additional layer of support, students that received a U in Physics I/II and Calculus I/II were included in a messaging campaign sharing tutoring and group study services available for these specific courses.

Enrollment Campaign for Success Seminar (Students on Academic Probation) will be expanded to include first-year cohort students on academic warning after their first fall semester

Our analysis of first-year cohort students that were not retained into their second year revealed several students ended their first fall semester on academic warning. This trend reveals an opportunity to intervene earlier for students struggling academically with a semester-long supportive academic skills development seminar. We are considering requiring the course for students on warning or probation during their first year, but minimally, our enrollment campaign will be expanded beyond probation for freshmen.
Plan for the Year Ahead: 

Professional academic coaching has been reorganized into Retention and Completion Initiatives, maximizing the service’s potential as an intervention for at-risk students. We plan to hire a second full-time academic coach by the end of the Fall 2025 semester and identify, define, and operationalize at least five data-informed academic risk indicators to prioritize in the coaching intervention. Over the course of the next year, we intend 75% of the professional academic coaching appointments held to support students with a defined academic risk indicator with measurable improvement/effectiveness of the service. Furthermore, a peer academic coaching program will be piloted during the Spring 2026 semester to provide a tiered level of academic support in partnership with Retention & Completion Initiatives and Learning & Academic Success Initiatives. Peer academic coaching will provide an outlet for students experiencing moderate or specific concerns to engage with coaching support while scaling professional coaching services for critical indicators and complex student cases.

Georgia Tech’s portfolio of retention interventions will undergo continued refinement throughout the coming academic year to meet student needs and generate students’ agentic actions. New campaigns and interventions will be data-driven and measurable to allocate resources effectively.

Challenges and Support: 

As Navigate360 improves our ability to communicate directly with students and eliminates barriers to students setting appointments with student success professionals, our capacity to meet this new demand is quickly reaching a ceiling. For example, very few students with 2 or more Us included in our Fall 2025 midterm referral to academic coaching were able to get an appointment. An operational oversight, coaching availability was nearly completely booked before the campaign was launched. As a lesson learned, we will block substantial appointment availability at the beginning of the term during the midterm period. Additionally, we hosted a drop-in midterm U advice session, serviced by advisors, coaches, and learning specialists across Academic Success & Advising with increased student participation. We will continue to examine ways to build capacity during critical points in the semester by mobilizing teams beyond academic coaching.

The academic advising community with academic units is reporting a similar strain on capacity. Navigate360 empowers the Institute to track utilization of academic success services and mobilize human resources to meet demand, which is a significant operational improvement for Georgia Tech

Contact email: 
aholcomb@gatech.edu
Primary Contact: 
Anna Holcomb, Director of Retention and Completion Initiatives

Academic Support Strategies for Precalculus: Companion Course (Georgia Institute of Technology-2025)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Academic Support Strategies for Precalculus: Companion Course
Momentum Area: 
Pathways
Category: 
Learning Communities
Math Pathways
Mindset
Strategy/Project Description: 

Students enrolled in MATH 1113 (precalculus) have been identified as a high-priority population as the course is a gateway to successfully completing a STEM degree, especially if a student’s high school math program is under resourced. In addition, MATH 1113 enrollment is steadily rising (161.4% increase from Fall 2018 to Fall 2022). Furthermore, while a final grade of B is considered the threshold to successfully advance into a STEM major, only 15% and 18% of MATH 1113 students earned an A or B, respectively, in the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semester, indicating two-thirds of the students were not calculus 1-ready by the end of the term in precalculus.  

As more Georgia Tech students begin their undergraduate journey in precalculus, we must bolster the institutional support around this entry point to the mathematics prerequisite sequencing to ensure students successfully complete MATH 1113 in the first attempt and progress to calculus 1 well prepared. 

In the previous CCG reporting cycle, we established a companion section of GT 1000: First-Year Seminar aligned to the MATH 1113 course pacing to provide additional support specific to navigating the first year of college; these sections included elements of academic coaching, mindset development, and academic success strategies. Additionally, GT 1000 provided an avenue for key academic planning incorporating MATH 1113, which is not included in any Georgia Tech STEM degree map. Beyond course planning, holistic college roadmapping supports the development and realization of one’s purpose to help MATH 1113 students make appropriate major selections and provide motivation for successful completion of precalculus to advance into subsequent STEM courses. 

We intend to offer the GT 1000 companion section to MATH 1113 again in Fall 2025 with some adjustment to grow the impact potential.

Activity Status: 
Initiating
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 

Intended Assessment Plan

Benchmark 1: Surpass Fa24 enrollment of 7 students. DID NOT MEET

Benchmark 2: Maintain 100% pass rate on MATH 1113. NOT MEASURABLE

Benchmark 3: Maintain math progression, 100% enroll in MATH 1551 in Spring 2026. NOT MEASURABLE

Benchmark 4: Improve MATH 1551 final grade outcomes (1 student earned an A, 2 students earned a B, 1 student earned a C, 3 students earned a D). NOT MEASURABLE

We are continuing to track the Fall 2024 cohort of 7 students. All 7 students are still enrolled at Georgia Tech, are in good academic standing, and progressing academically. The cohort has an average GPA of 2.98 (range, 2.03 – 3.72). All students, but one, have progressed beyond Calculus I, and the student is taking Calculus I in Fall 2025 and has a satisfactory midterm progress report.

Progress and Adjustments: 

As previously reported, an extensive enrollment strategy and marketing campaign in Fall 2024 only yielded 7 students in the MATH 1113 companion course pilot. Despite the smaller than anticipated course enrollment, we piloted one section of the GT 1000 companion course in Fall 2024 and preliminary student data was promising. Of the seven students registered, only one student received a midterm grade of U-Unsatisfactory in MATH 1113, and the cohort has averaged 2.2 visits per student to our tutoring center so far in the Fall 2024 semester. 

We attempted to run the companion section of GT 1000 for MATH 1113 again in Fall 2025 with adjustments to the marketing, communications, and enrollment plan. Instead of delaying course permitting and enrollment until after the ACCUPLACER exam, we issued permits based on initial math placement determined at admission. We partnered with the academic advising community and advising operations team to communicate with advisors ahead of first-year orientation registration to encourage enrollment in the section for eligible students. Despite our efforts, the companion course was not offered due to low enrollment and limited student interest.

Plan for the Year Ahead: 

While the continued academic success of our pilot cohort of 7 students demonstrates the potential of the companion course model, student interest during registration persists. As such, Georgia Tech’s team focused on Academic Transition and Learning Communities will build on these lessons learned and is working with campus partners to create a summer residential program that embeds curricular and academic support for students enrolled in precalculus.

Challenges and Support: 

 Scaling interventions for precalculus preparations will require thinking critically about the barriers and motivations of student engagement in academic support offerings and systematically addressing these findings in programmatic design.

Contact email: 
aholcomb@gatech.edu
Primary Contact: 
Anna Holcomb, Director of Retention and Completion Initiatives

Academic Support Strategies for Precalculus: Summer Calculus Preparation (Georgia Institute of Technology-2025)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Academic Support Strategies for Precalculus: Summer Calculus Preparation
Momentum Area: 
Pathways
Category: 
Learning Communities
Math Pathways
Mindset
Strategy/Project Description: 

In Summer 2025, we offered a summer calculus prep program for students identified by our undergraduate admission team as not yet meeting the criteria for placement in MATH 1551 (Calculus 1). We targeted students already engaged in summer bridge offerings: (1) Tech Promise Momentum Mentoring, a remote mentoring program offered in partnership with the Office of Scholar Programs, and (2) Challenge, a six-week immersive summer program offered through the Office of Student Achievement. 

The program utilized ALEKS, a self-guided, online learning platform that adapts to a student’s current content knowledge, so most time is spent on the concepts where the most development is needed—making study time efficient and personalized. ALEKS was offered to students placed into Precalculus or College Algebra as of July 1 who were aiming to advance to Calculus I (MATH 1551). After successfully completing AELKS, students were encouraged to take the ACCUPLACER exam to potentially place directly into Calculus. 

Activity Status: 
Piloting
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 

As a pilot, this year we focused on establishing the summer intervention. We aimed to recruit 25 students between Tech Promise and Challenge and establish reasonable baselines for success based on math placement and academic outcomes in math courses. Due to the low engagement, the baselines metrics are ill defined.

Progress and Adjustments: 

Nine Challenge students and 16 Tech Promise were identified for the ALEKS summer calculus preparation. Despite a multifaceted marketing plan, only 7 students enrolled in ALEKS. Of the 7 participants, 3 students never completed a module. Partners in the School of Mathematics selected 240 topics from the ALEKS inventory that were vital for precalculus mastery and predictors of success on the ACCUPLACER exam. The 4 engaged participants completed an average of 43% of the topics, and 2 students placed into Calculus 1 in Fall 2025 and 2 students placed into Precalculus.

Plan for the Year Ahead: 

We will assess the viability of using ALEKS as a summer intervention and consider ways to generate better student engagement.

Challenges and Support: 

As with our GT 1000 pilot, we worked to remove all barriers to student participation—the prep program was (1) remote, (2) no-cost to students, (3) imbedded into existing summer bridge programming, and (4) aligned to the ACCUPLACER exam schedule. However, student engagement is fickle with non-required academic support resources.  

Contact email: 
aholcomb@gatech.edu
Primary Contact: 
Anna Holcomb, Director of Retention and Completion Initiatives

Supplemental Updates

Supplemental Updates

Complete College Georgia-Georgia Tech (CCG-GT) Steering Committee Activities. Georgia Tech’s Momentum work is guided by the CCG-GT Steering Committee, a diverse team of cross-campus leaders who provide input for our student success initiatives and promote engagement of our Momentum work across Georgia Tech. The CCG-GT Steering Committee is chaired by Dr. Steven P. Girardot, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success. On April 24, 2025, the committee engaged in a working session to finalize Georgia Tech’s momentum activities for the current reporting cycle. USG representatives (Jonathan Watts Hull, Aimee Berger, Melanie Largin, and Michael Rothlisberger) joined the committee as well to share key CCG updates and contribute to our planning for the year. The 2023-2025 CCG-GT Steering Committee members have served a two-year term. A new committee will be appointed in January 2026 and serve through December 2027.

Academic Success and Advising Awards. Annually, the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) recognizes the outstanding contributions of faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond to support our undergraduate students and improve retention, progression, and graduation with our Academic Success and Advising Awards. Since 2004, Georgia Tech has formally recognized excellence in academic advising, an integral part of the academic culture at the Institute, ensuring a holistic experience for students. Champions in this work, one staff advisor and one faculty advisor, are honored, highlighting best practices and core values in advising. The 2025 Outstanding Faculty Advisor was Dr. Meghan Babcock, an Academic Professional for the Psychology program. The 2025 Outstanding Staff Advisor was Amanda Blocker, and Academic Program Manager I for the Literature, Media, and Communication program.

Added in 2024, the Complete College Georgia (CCG) Champion Award recognizes one staff or faculty member who has made critical contributions to undergraduate student success, advancing the primary goals of CCG to improve the experience for Georgia Tech’s highest priority students while promoting our institutional values. The 2025 CCG Champion was Dr. Lakshmi Raju, the inaugural Director of Student Engagement and Well-Being in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Tutoring & Academic Support. As a part of Academic Success and Advising’s (ASA) mission, our Tutoring & Academic Support (TAS) program supports undergraduate students in achieving their academic goals through a range of both personalized and campus-wide initiatives that center students as our top priority. Our programming strives to foster self-regulated learning, enhance academic skills, and create opportunities for leadership and continued development within and beyond Georgia Tech's rigorous environment.

Additionally, a partnership with Knack, a third-party provider for tutoring facilitation, allowed us to leverage technology in new ways to better meets students’ tutoring needs. Knack is both a booking platform for students to schedule course-specific peer-to-peer tutoring services and a service to onboard and train Georgia Tech students who are hired as peer tutors. Tutoring is completely free, and appointments take place online. Knack and Georgia Tech started a partnership in the 2022-2023 academic year focused within the College of Engineering. The program launched spring 2023 and supported all undergraduate engineering courses. In the summer of 2023, the program expanded to include all undergraduate courses except for special internship/co-operative education courses, special project/topic courses, and English. Since summer 2023, the program has continued to scale to support all undergraduate disciplines.

In AY 2024-25, more than 6,000 unique students received academic support at TAS through peer-to-peer collaboration in 1:1 tutoring, Peer Led Undergraduate Study (PLUS) sessions, and drop-in visits. Table 1 displays the utilization of TAS programs over the last academic year. 

Table 1. Tutoring and Academic Support Utilization

 

Total Sessions 

Unique Students 

1:1 Tutoring (Knack) 

10,743 

1,496

Drop-In Tutoring 

12,099

2,637

PLUS

18,582 

4,548

Total

41,424

6,193

Observations and Next Steps

Over the past year, Georgia Tech has advanced a cohesive vision for student success by cultivating synergy between our Completion College Georgia efforts and institutional priorities, such as the Institute’s ASPIRE strategies. Georgia Tech’s reimagining of its student success units exemplifies the unified prioritization of student outcomes. Organizational alignments were made in Spring 2025 which resulted in the Office of Undergraduate Education being renamed to the Office of Undergraduate Education and Student Success (OUESS) to reflect Georgia Tech’s focus on student success.

In addition to strategic alignment efforts, strategic collaborations have also been paramount to advance student success at Georgia Tech over the last year. In less than six months since its launch, Navigate360 has been a catalyst for collaboration, increased awareness of student support resources, and data sharing. More than 150 student support personnel and academic advisors have been onboarded to the platform and signed the Best Practices Agreement for Georgia Tech Advisors (Appendix B). Additionally, OUESS’s Undergraduate Advising Operations and Engagement team has led more than 30 Navigate360 trainings across campus since April 2025. Georgia Tech’s investment in Navigate360 and carefully orchestrated implementation plan developed by the Core Project Team has strengthened an increasingly interconnected approach to student success.

Finally, over the last academic year, Georgia Tech’s accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) was reaffirmed. As part of SACSCOC Reaffirmation of Accreditation, Georgia Tech launched its next Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) entitled Leaders in Progress and Service: Creating Intentional and Transformative Learning Experiences. "Progress and Service” is the directional purpose of a Georgia Tech education and, from its founding, the Institute has recognized the transformative potential of experiential learning—learning by doing. The heart of the topic is the creation and implementation of a new credential that activates Tech’s mission to prepare students to advance technology and improve the human condition broaden participation to students who may be less likely to participate in existing high-impact practices. In its pilot semesters, Spring 2025 and Fall 2025, 25 students participated in the foundational course, Progress and Service Forum. In the course, students learn how they can uniquely contribute to tackling the world’s most challenging issues and practice defining problems from multiple perspectives while exploring their professional values. As part of this course, students will get a first look at “beyond-the-classroom” learning opportunities in their discipline.

Georgia Tech remains committed to its mission to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition and its role as Georgia’s science and technology-focused public research university. Affordability and student achievement are central to this commitment. The Institute is nationally recognized for affordability and maximizing returns on an investment in a college education for students and families of Georgia while providing access to innovation, experiential learning opportunities, and a commitment to delivering the gold standard in student success, all student populations achieving educational outcomes at a rate equal to the highest performing group.