USG funding supports institutional priorities at North Georgia
6/5/2012 2:56:55 PM
(June 5, 2012) – Georgia’s Complete College Georgia
initiative identified an 18 percent gap between the numbers of Georgians who
currently have some type of college degree and what the state’s workforce will
need in 2020.
Ongoing work by Georgia's public colleges and universities
to increase college completion rates under this initiative will get a boost in
the upcoming year with $72.5 million in new funds. Gov. Nathan Deal and the
General Assembly fully funded the University System of Georgia's enrollment
formula, and as a result, all 35 institutions will receive new funding to
strengthen programs serving the system’s almost 320,000 students.
“We are extremely grateful for the additional support we
received through the University System of Georgia this year,” said Dr. Bonita
C. Jacobs, North Georgia College & State University president. “This
support enhances the resources available to support our academic mission and
our ability to respond to the need to serve our growing region.”
North Georgia will use the approximately $1.3 million in new
resources to support crucial faculty and staff positions that will sustain the
university’s growing strategic language initiatives and strengthen college
completion efforts through the addition of the University Center | GA 400
instructional site, which is scheduled to open in August. University Center |
GA 400 is designed to expand access to higher education to a fast-growing and
underserved area of the region.
- $900,000
will fund 12 full-time faculty positions, particularly in the areas of
strategic languages, science, physical therapy, visual arts, and the
library, as well as additional part-time instructional faculty.
- $400,000
will fund 10 staff positions in overburdened areas, including student
affairs and financial aid, and fundamental support for the University
Center | GA 400.
“In the past few years, our faculty and staff have
demonstrated incredible resourcefulness and work ethic by taking on extra
course loads and responsibilities across the board to serve a growing student
population as funding has been reduced to meet budget demands,” Jacobs said.
“The state’s investment now is particularly important as we prepare to open the
University Center in Cumming and will enable us to better serve our students
and the region.”
The Complete College Georgia initiative has projected that
by 2020, more than 60 percent of jobs in Georgia will require some form of a
college education, whether a certificate, associate’s degree, or bachelor’s
degree. Today, only 42 percent of the state’s young adults meet that standards.
Each of the state’s colleges and universities is developing an institutional
plan to support the goals of Complete College Georgia and will be submitting
those plans to the University System of Georgia this summer.
North Georgia and Gainesville State College, which are in
the process of consolidating to form the University of North Georgia, effective
in January 2013 pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools Commission on Colleges, are collaborating on a single plan. The
consolidated university will offer a wide range of programs of study and degrees
– from associate’s degrees to doctoral degrees. The consolidated university
will expand students’ access to higher education programs and degrees across a
broad geographic span of northern Georgia and through a variety of entry
points.
The opening of University Center | GA 400 is a collaborative
project of the two schools that began prior to the decision regarding
consolidation. It will provide an additional location for students to take
entry-level, bachelor’s and graduate-level courses, easing capacity issues on
the already stretched campuses of North Georgia and Gainesville State and
provide create additional opportunities for students to get the classes they
need to graduate in a timely manner.
North Georgia’s language initiatives, which are the result
of a goal of the university’s strategic plan to prepare students as globally
conscious leaders, are beneficial to all students, particularly those who are
in the university’s Corps of Cadets and are preparing for careers as military
officers.
The funding for these priorities support the
graduation and retention goals of Complete College Georgia, as well as the
newly adopted mission for the consolidated university, which include being “a
regional multi-campus institution and premier senior military college” and
providing “broad access to comprehensive academic and co-curricular programs
that develop students into leaders for a diverse and global society.”