Dive Brief:
- The University System of Georgia wants to merge East Georgia State College with Georgia Southern University, a move that would keep the former’s identity while making it a part of Georgia Southern.
- USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue will recommend the plan to the system’s board of regents for a decision at their mid-April meeting, according to USG’s announcement on Tuesday. The merger would also require accreditation approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
- USG hopes to save on administrative costs and reduce academic duplication, among other expected benefits, through the merger. The move would continue efforts to consolidate the system that stretch back more than a decade.
Dive Insight:
East Georgia State and Georgia Southern are less than 40 miles apart, but they operate at very different scales.
Georgia Southern is by far the larger institution, with 26,041 students in fall 2023, according to federal data. That enrollment has remained relatively stable in recent years, dipping just 1.4% since 2018. East Georgia State, meanwhile, has a fraction of that student body — 1,756 students in fall 2023, which was down about 40% from five years prior.
First opened in 1973 as the two-year Emanuel Country Junior College, East Georgia State today still only offers a handful of bachelor’s degrees. The nearly 120-year-old Georgia Southern, on the other hand, boasts 150 programs, including a range of bachelor’s and master’s degrees, along with certificate and doctoral offerings.
Bringing the two institutions together is meant to “better serve students, broaden academic programs offered in Georgia’s Lower Coastal Plain region and reinvest savings into academics to improve student success,” USG said.
Under the plan, East Georgia State would come under the leadership of Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero. If approved by the system’s regents, an implementation team made up of representatives from each institution would begin ironing out the details of the merger.
In announcing his recommendation for the merger, Perdue said the system’s consolidation efforts are based on “core priorities of attainment, affordability and efficiency.”
At the same time, he noted leadership also understands “the importance of making sure East Georgia State College’s legacy of creating knowledge and prosperity continues” in Swainsboro, where the institution is based.
USG has been actively consolidating its institutions and simplifying the system since launching a consolidation initiative in 2011. During that time, the university system has looked to balance cost savings with offering regional opportunities to students. To date, the consolidations have saved a total $30 million in administrative expenses, USG said Tuesday.
The effort got underway in early 2012 with a consolidation of eight institutions out of what was then 35. Five more consolidations were later approved. If the combination of Georgia Southern and East Georgia State goes through, the system will come out of the process with 25 institutions.
One of the earlier consolidations involved Georgia Southern as well, with it in 2017 absorbing Armstrong State University, which today is known as the university’s Armstrong Campus in Savannah.
