Last fall, in order to support and plan for student life, the university announced its first enrollment plan since 2007. The plan will ensure that UGA’s resources, services and infrastructure support the student population.
“UGA’s competitive advantage is that Athens has one of the best campus environments in the nation,” said Andy Borst, UGA’s vice provost for enrollment management. “UGA serves as a talent magnet, bringing outstanding students, faculty and staff to the community, and Athens is a key draw for them.”
The strategic enrollment plan calls for UGA to sustain the size of its first-year class for the next five years while expanding online programs and moderately increasing the number of graduate and transfer students.
The university’s online programs have proven to be effective in educating and retaining students. In fact, many of UGA’s programs have been ranked in the nation’s top 10 by U.S. News and World Report, including UGA’s Terry College of Business as the top 10 overall best online master’s in business program. Three of the Mary Frances Early College of Education’s online master’s programs were ranked in the top five of their categories.
On campus, UGA’s enrollment will grow by 1 percent on average, or about 600 additional students in Athens each year — representing the number of students who would fill just 24 rows in Sanford Stadium.
this five-year period, UGA will expand campus infrastructure, building a new parking deck that will open in fall 2025, and a new first-year residence hall as well as a dining facility to open in fall 2026. Borst said the new facilities will support the first-year class and help the university increase its capacity to house transfer and graduate students in existing facilities.
UGA also plans to hire more than 115 tenure-track faculty and additional non-tenure track and staff to support planned growth.
“We are in a fortunate position. We have record interest from undergraduate and graduate students,” said Borst. “We have created this plan to ensure that our enrollment stays within the bounds of campus and community resources.”
As prospective students’ interest in UGA continues to grow, the university remains committed to students from Athens-Clarke County.
“We recruit heavily in the local community and have great relationships with the counselors at Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central,” said David Graves, UGA’s director of admissions.
Currently, more than 190 of UGA’s undergraduate students who enrolled as new freshmen are Clarke County School District alumni.
“UGA Admissions works hard and has had tremendous success in keeping our wonderful Athens-Clarke County students at UGA for their college years, as we have seen them go on to do great things both at Georgia and in their postgraduate experiences,” Graves said.
Many of these students — and their peers from other communities — remain in Athens, starting businesses, raising families and contributing long term to the community. Nearly 31,000 Athens residents are UGA alumni.
