GSU: Another Record Freshman Class Leads to Fall Enrollment Increase

New numbers released by the University System of Georgia (USG) show another record-breaking class of newly enrolled first-year students for fall of 2021, helping lead to a second year in a row overall enrollment increase for Georgia Southern University. Georgia Southern was just one of five institutions to record an enrollment increase this year within the USG.

Georgia Southern’s official fall 2021 enrollment was 27,091, a 0.5% increase over fall 2020’s final enrollment figure of 26,949. Georgia Southern is also outpacing national trends, which indicate undergraduate enrollment is down 3.2% nationwide from a year ago and down 6.5% as a total from two years ago, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Numbers show 5,430 new beginning freshmen started with Georgia Southern in August 2021, a 3.5% increase over the University’s previous largest freshman class in 2020 of 5,247 students.

“I am proud of our strategic enrollment strategies supported by marketing and communication that are reflected in these enrollment increases and the transformational work being done by our faculty and staff,” said Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero. “Georgia Southern is taking that next step in regional impact and national prominence.”

Out-of-state, dual enrollment and fully online numbers also rose to record levels in fall 2021. Buoyed by in-state tuition offered to residents of states that border Georgia, the out-of-state enrollment at Georgia Southern in fall 2021 was 2,646, up from 2,443 last year, and significantly up from the fall 2018 figure of 1,974.

Dually enrolled students (those in high school taking college courses) rose to 982 this fall, up from 953 last year, and also significantly up from the fall 2018 figure of 583.

Those students enrolled in fully online classes rose to 2,584 this year.

“Especially in light of national trends and the COVID-19 pandemic, I am proud of our team and these final enrollment figures,” said Scot Lingrell, vice president of enrollment management. “We are anticipating a drop in the total number of high school students in future years, so we are redoubling our efforts to attract adults, transfers, dual enrollment students, military-connected, graduate and international residents.”

Source: National Student Clearinghouse (2021); First-Look Fall 2021 Enrollment (As of Sept. 23).

GSU / USG