By Al Hackle, Statesboro Herald

STATESBORO — Seven and a quarter years after Armstrong State University was absorbed into Georgia Southern University, the University System of Georgia, or USG, is considering another consolidation involving Georgia Southern, this time with East Georgia State College, which is based in Swainsboro but also has a Statesboro program.

University System Chancellor Sonny Perdue announced Tuesday that he will recommend the consolidation of EGSC with Georgia Southern to the state Board of Regents, and the regents are expected to act on it next week, during their April 15-16 meeting, according to a media release from the USG Communications office. That regents meeting will be held on the Georgia Southern campus in Statesboro.

“If approved, the new institution will retain EGSC’s identity, while becoming part of Georgia Southern University, to be led by President Kyle Marrero,” the release stated. “The proposed consolidation will enable USG to better serve students, broaden academic programs offered in Georgia’s Lower Coastal Plain region and reinvest savings into academics to improve student success.”

As will be explained farther below, Perdue related this latest proposal to an overall University System consolidation initiative, launched in 2011, which has reduced the number of USG institutions from 35 to 26. If approved, the GS-EGSC consolidation will leave just 25 formally distinct public colleges and universities in the system. These do not include schools such as Ogeechee Technical College, which are governed by the separate Technical College System of Georgia.

EGSC’s shrinkage

But another fact behind the proposal is that East Georgia State College experienced a substantial enrollment decline during the last decade, from 3,152 students enrolled there as of USG’s fall semester 2016 enrollment report to 1,768 students in fall semester 2023, an almost 44% seven-year slide, before a 3.3% bounce back to 1,826 students in fall 2024. After that modest gain, East Georgia remained the second-smallest of the 26 institutions, behind Atlanta Metropolitan State College, which had 1,590 students.

Meanwhile, Georgia Southern, with its original Statesboro campus, the Armstrong campus in Savannah, the commuter- only Liberty campus in Hinesville and some online-only students, recovered from a previous enrollment slump to enroll 27,506 students – the most since the 2017 Armstrong consolidation – last fall. If combined with East Georgia, Georgia Southern would have more than 29,000 students and remain the fifth largest institution in the system.

Concerns about EGSC’s enrollment and continued viability as a stand-alone school have been a factor in the proposal to make it part of Georgia Southern, Regent Everett Kennedy confirmed in a phone interview with the Herald. A Statesboro real estate professional with a business degree from Georgia Southern, Kennedy has served on the 19-member USG Board since 2020. The potential consolidation has been “talked about for some time” as regents and staff regularly monitor the institutions for ways to improve efficiency and services to students, he said.

“We very much wanted to make sure that East Georgia remains a viable and relevant education source in that area, in Emanuel County, and they do have a special mission, and we feel strongly about that and want to support them in the very best way that we can,” Kennedy said on Tuesday.

“So there’s been a lot of consideration given to, do we continue to prop up underperforming schools, or do we look at the possibility of consolidation, which would make them really strong and able to provide better services and certainly not have an institution fold, because that would be devastating for any community, really. …,” he said. “So we want to see their best chances for success, and we feel like consolidation could be the key to that.”

East Georgia State College’s current president, Dr. David Schecter, arrived three years ago with hopes for a turn-around, and led the college through its 50th anniversary year, 2023.

“He’s done an excellent job; there’s no blame on him by any stretch. He’s done a fabulous job, but some of these communities, it’s hard for (colleges) to be able to make it on our own,” Kennedy said. “But it’s our interest that we do the best thing for East Georgia and Swainsboro and Emanuel County, to make sure of its longevity as a viable institution.”

Because the state’s formula for funding universities and colleges is based on enrollment, the previous decline became a “ d o u b l e whammy,” resulting in funding cuts for East Georgia, he said. For years, EGSC had a Statesboro campus in a prominent building on U.S. Highway 301 South, but in 2022 the college’s Statesboro program was moved to the Nessmith-Lane Building at Georgia Southern. The university then moved its continuing and professional education programs into the former EGSC building.

Unanswered questions

Exactly what it would mean for East Georgia to retain its identity while becoming part of Georgia Southern – such as what will appear on signs on the Swainsboro main campus or what will become of East Georgia’s athletic programs – are questions that remain to be answered, Kennedy said.

But he believes that a core aspect of EGSC’s identity will be preserved for the benefit of both institutions, he said. While Georgia Southern is a university with advanced degrees and research programs, as well as undergraduate admission standards, East Georgia is an “access institution,” with nearly open enrollment and among the lowest tuition and fees in the state. East Georgia offers mostly two-year, associate degrees, but also a four-year Bachelor of Business Administration and online “eMajor” bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and organizational leadership.

“They would remain an access institution,” Kennedy said. “Their mission theoretically would not change. It will be a perfect feeder opportunity for people going into East Georgia to then transition over to Georgia Southern when they’re done.”

Implementation team

If Perdue’s recommendation is approved by the regents, an implementation team with representatives from both East Georgia and Georgia Southern will be formed to work out details, according to the release. It also stated that the board’s vote this month would be for initial approval to move forward with consolidation and that approval would then be sought from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which accredits the institutions.

Back when the consolidation of Armstrong State with Georgia Southern was approved by the Board of Regents in 2017 and formally took effect on Jan. 1, 2018, Perdue was serving as U.S. secretary of agriculture under the first Trump administration. Before that, he was governor of Georgia from January 2003 to January 2011. The USG Board of Regents appointed him chancellor on March 1, 2022, effective that April 1.

So to be clear, the Armstrong consolidation wasn’t his decision, although in Tuesday’s media release he spoke for the history of a University System of Georgia consolidation effort begun under an earlier chancellor and board.

“When we began our consolidation initiative, the system hadn’t changed much and needed to do things differently to better serve our students and the state,” Perdue said. “Today, as we remain focused on those core priorities of attainment, affordability and efficiency, we also understand the importance of making sure East Georgia State College’s legacy of creating knowledge and prosperity continues within the Swainsboro community and beyond.”

The release included a statement that previous consolidations resulted in an estimated $30 million in administrative savings.

“The dollars saved through consolidation have always been reinvested directly in our campuses – fueling the hiring of strong faculty, expanding student support services and driving measurable improvements in retention and graduation rates,” Perdue added.

“Our commitment in making this recommendation is no different. We will preserve access to higher education locally while ensuring that we keep improving the experience and success of our students.”

“It would be a perfect feeder opportunity for people going into East Georgia to then transition to Georgia Southern when they’re done.”