UWG News Archive

Summer enrollment up

August 1, 2003

CARROLLTON, GA - Summer ’03 enrollment of 5,060 is up from the ’02 number of 4,526. This number obliterates the old record of 4,561 in 1998 when many students were trying to graduate in the quarter system before the semester system started that fall. This represents almost a 12 percent increase in headcount enrollment since last year.

Enrollment increases are not just a West Georgia phenomenon. Dr. Thomas Meredith, Chancellor of the University System of Georgia (USG), was on campus recently and noted, “From Fiscal Year 2000 to 2004, the USG is up over 30,000 students and that doesn’t count this fall. Last fall, we added the equivalent of another Georgia Tech. We could easily be up another 16,000 this fall.”

West Georgia is engaged in serious planning efforts to deal with growth issues ranging from enrollment management to facility utilization. The University is updating its Facilities Master Plan and recent studies indicate that UWG has used 80 percent of its available land and will need four more academic buildings the size of the new Technology-enhanced Learning Center in the foreseeable future to keep up with projected growth.

Students will see an immediate response to growth this fall as the new 612-bed residence hall complex construction begins. The privatized student housing complex will consist of three four-story residence halls plus a community building. The complex will be located in the area of Pritchard Hall, which will be demolished following the construction of the three residence halls.

A very real challenge for West Georgia and other institutions in the USG is balancing the growth in enrollments with state appropriations which are shrinking.

Sethna noted that just this past year, UWG had a budget decrease of 10 percent and student increase of seven percent. He has been a strong advocate at the state level for helping preserve the positive momentum for higher education that the University System experienced a few years ago.

Meredith stated that during the same years that the USG grew by over 30,000 students, state appropriations for higher education only increased $53,000.

Summer enrollment at UWG reveals that 96 percent of students are from Georgia and Carroll County sends the largest number of students to campus. Although West Georgia students come from virtually every county in the state, the majority reside in Coweta, Cobb, Douglas, Dekalb, Fulton and Fayette counties.

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