Spring enrollment sees increase over last year

Georgia Highlands College kicked off the new year with a jump in spring semester enrollment. Classes resumed last week with a noticeable increase over last year’s spring semester numbers.

“Our current spring enrollment represents a 6.3 percent increase from last spring semester,” GHC Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Jones said.

This increase follows a 7.1 percent increase for fall semester enrollment.

According to the University System of Georgia’s “Fall 2015 Semester Enrollment Report,” GHC had the third highest enrollment increase in the state.

GHC President Don Green attributes these increases to a number of efforts by all faculty and staff in the areas of recruitment, retention and increased marketing.

Retention rates are also on the rise, Green added, which is due in part by GHC’s new Student Success Coach Initiative that was formed to help maintain and increase retention rates.

The Student Success Coach Initiative gave all 2015 first-time, full-time GHC students the opportunity to work with faculty or staff members who would act as their success coach for the year. Almost 200 faculty/staff members volunteered to be success coaches for over 900 students.