S tudent interest in the experiential learning and small-class environment offered by Georgia College & State University (GCSU) is at an all-time high. Heading into Fall 2024, applications to GCSU have grown 45% since Fall 2022, and 50% since Fall 2021.
 
GCSU Provost Dr. Costas Spirou said the growth is a by-product, first, of the professional enrollment management approaches of Sr. Vice President of Enrollment Management Joel Robinson over the past several years. 

“Under Joel’s direction, we are reaching out to prospective students at much earlier stages of their college exploration process to make them aware of all that Georgia College has to offer,” said Spirou. “I also think the liberal arts focus and structured experiential learning opportunities we offer are very attractive to top-tier students.”

University president Cathy Cox agreed. 

“To some extent, I think Georgia College has benefitted from the negative experience many of our students had with online learning during the pandemic. Almost all of our academic-year courses for undergraduate students are held in face-to-face small classes,” Cox said, “and our students thrive in those discussion-based environments. They like knowing their professors and knowing that their professors know them.”

Despite that extraordinary growth of applications, GCSU has only marginally increased the size of its first-year class, from a high of around 1,500 in the fall of 2021 to just over 1,800 in the fall of 2023, so that it could maintain its reputation for small class sizes, housing for all first-year students, and accessibility to faculty and staff resources.