Graduation rates at the Georgia State Perimeter campuses have nearly doubled, rising by over 5 percentage points since they were last measured in 2014. Georgia State is attributing the improvement to the consolidation between the two universities, which was finalized in early 2016.
Surging graduation rates in the five added campuses come as an early Christmas gift to Georgia State, a university which has received recognition from even President Barack Obama in December 2014 for its efforts in helping students graduate.
Despite the consolidation only approaching its one year anniversary, Georgia State Vice President for Enrollment Management & Student Success Timothy Renick has no doubt that the progress made at the Perimeter campuses is due to the efforts made by Georgia State since the consolidation.
“The efforts of the Perimeter College faculty and staff have been critical to the five-point increase in graduation rates for Perimeter students,” Renick said. “Critical, too, are the introduction of some new programs from Georgia State’s Atlanta campus.”
The programs which Renick is referring to are unique to Georgia State and have experienced a considerable amount of success at the Atlanta campus, increasing the graduation rate of students at the Atlanta campus by 21 points in the first nine years of their implementation.
“Starting in January, we began awarding Panther Retention Grants to Perimeter students, and more than 200 Perimeter students have already received the grants,” Renick said. “These grants focus specifically on keeping students enrolled who are on track for graduation.”
Better advisement, more grads
In addition to offering financial assistance to students with Panther Retention Grants, Renick also said that changes have been made to the student advisement system at the Perimeter campuses to make the Perimeter campuses’ advisement policies mirror those of the Atlanta campus.
“We have implemented our GPS Advising system at Perimeter. The system uses predictive analytics to help staff members to reach out proactively to students who get off track and helps students make adjustments so that they graduate on time.”
Renick claimed that Georgia State has awarded dozens of Associate degrees to Perimeter students through a procedure which he termed a “‘reverse transfer’—the process by which Perimeter students who transfer to Georgia State before they complete their Associate degrees may receive their degrees once they have completed the needed courses at the Atlanta campus.”
Even though they have only had just under one year to take effect, Renick credits these three programs alone as responsible for many students earning their degrees and boosting the Perimeter campuses’ graduation rate by several points.
An increase in the overall graduation rate is not the only improvement which Georgia State is proud of, though. The school is also boasting increases in graduation rates across different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
When Georgia State first began seeking to increase graduation rates at its Atlanta campus, rising rates across all demographics was a result which garnered Georgia State praise from institutions such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the U.S. News & World Report. Results such as these have carried over to the Perimeter campuses, according to Renick.
“Since the consolidation of Georgia State University with Perimeter was announced, graduation rates at Perimeter College have increased by 7.3 percentage points for black students, 4.1 points for white students, 7.0 points for Hispanic students, and 4.0 points for Pell-eligible students,” Renick said.
The implementation of the programs which helped bring about such widespread increases was made possible in part because of the $6.5 million in administrative cost savings which Georgia State reported has been directed toward student-focused initiatives and academic programs, including the three programs above and the hiring of “70 new positions in student support areas,” according to Renick.
“These new staff positions include 30 academic advisors, plus additional staff for financial aid, student accounts, registration, admissions and career services,” Renick said.
Renick believes that the hiring of new staff members at the Perimeter campuses has played a major role in the successful application of programs such as Panther Retention Grants and GPS Advising.
“These new staff positions are critical to implementing programs such as GPS Advising and Panther Retention Grants, and they will drive continued progress in graduation rates at Perimeter in the coming semesters,” Renick said.
In addition, he believes that the newly hired staff will be able to assist with implementing more staples of 
Georgia State’s Atlanta campus into the operations of the Perimeter campuses. Renick said that Georgia State Atlanta campus programs such as the Summer Success Academy and Freshman Learning Communities are in the works to be introduced at the Perimeter campuses.
The apparent positive results of these programs, coupled with the fact that even more student success initiatives are scheduled to be rolled out at the Perimeter campus soon, lead Renick to believe that now is no time for complacency.
“We have almost doubled graduation rates at the Atlanta Campus in recent years,” Renick said. “There is no reason why we should not expect the same types of gains to made by Perimeter students in the coming years.”
The Signal reached out to Georgia State Director of Advisement Carol Cohen, Georgia State Associate Director of Advisement Elisha Jarrett and the advisement centers for all Perimeter campuses but did not receive a response by press time.
