By Al Hackle, Statesboro Herald

STATESBORO — Meeting in the same building on the Georgia Southern University campus that houses East Georgia State College’s Statesboro program, the state Board of Regents on Tuesday unanimously approved University System Chancellor Sonny Perdue’s recommendation to make the Swainsboro-based college a part of the university.

The regents’ vote formally launches the consolidation process, which University System of Georgia officials hope will culminate in approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC, in December. The consolidation could then take effect in January 2026, said Dr. Kyle Marrero, Georgia Southern’s president who would then be leading a four-campus university.

Viewed one way, this action in is latest step in a long-term consolidation initiative the University System of Georgia, or USG, launched in 2011, when the system comprised 35 separate public colleges and universities. When this merger is completed, that number will have been reduced to 25.

But East Georgia State also faced specific challenges.

“While Dr. David Schecter, president of East Georgia, and his team there have done everything they can, the demographics challenging them have led to enrollment decline, led to, you know, revenue decline, and it has created some fiscal challenges there from which they maneuvered, but this also led to some layoffs in that campus and some strain,” Perdue told the board Tuesday.

“We do believe, I believe, our team believes, after much deliberation, that in the best interest of the citizens of Emanuel County, Swainsboro and surrounding regions that it is best that they would join with Georgia Southern University and support to create a campus remaining in Swainsboro. The campus will not close,” he continued. “We think it will be enhanced that way programmatically. …” Previous 44% slide

Annual enrollment reports accessed on the University System website tell the backstory. East Georgia State College experienced an almost 44% six-year slide, from 3,152 students enrolled there as of USG’s fall semester 2016 report to 1,768 students in fall semester 2023, before a 3.3% bounce back to 1,826 students in fall 2024. After that modest rebound, East Georgia remained the second-smallest of the 26 institutions, behind Atlanta Metropolitan State College, which last fall 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 last fall — the most since its 20172018 consolidation with the former Armstrong State University. If combined with East Georgia, Georgia Southern would have more than 29,000 students and is expected to remain the fifth-largest institution in the system.

“It’s just an economy of scale issue from a perspective of efficiency and effectiveness,” Perdue continued before the regents’ vote.

He said he believes the consolidation will be in the best interest of current East Georgia State students and future students who would “be recruited there and then potentially matriculate here at Georgia Southern.”

Schecter arrived as EGSC president three years ago with hopes for a turn-around, and led the college through its 50th anniversary year, 2023. He announced in February that he planned to retire at the end of the current academic year, this summer.

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 on the Georgia Southern campus. The university then moved its continuing and professional education programs into the former EGSC building Meeting at Nessmith-Lane This Tuesday and Wednesday the state Board of Regents is holding its April meeting in the large conference room at the Nessmith-Lane Conference Center. This is the first time in several years the regents have met at Georgia Southern, but they typically hold a few of their meetings each year at various USG institutions around the state.

Both schools’ presidents will submit recommendations to SACSCOC describing how the consolidation will be carried out, according to Perdue, who said it would “take a year-long effort” with the regents’ final vote to follow the SACSCOC approval in December.

“I think you all recognize that this is not done lightly, and it’s done with really great respect and appreciation for what has happened with the team at East Georgia State College … who we hope will continue,” he said. “The identity will remain there.”

Perdue said he had talked to state Rep. Butch Parrish and found him “very supportive, understanding” and also to EGSC Foundation members, who he said were “obviously … saddened that it had to come to that” but as business people were mostly understanding of it.

Regents Chairman T. Dallas Smith recited the prepared wording of Tuesday’s resolution, which stated that “all final determinations regarding consolidation, including effective dates, shall be made by the board in consultation with the chancellor and after obtaining the necessary approvals from SACSCOC.” After a motion and second, Smith called for a voice vote, and only “ayes” were heard.

Marrero interviewed

Interviewed after the vote, Marrero noted that East Georgia State and Georgia Southern have “so many collaborations already,” including the Bobcat to Eagle Program that was already in place for East Georgia students after two years to continue directly at the university.

“We already do much of the business services, audit and legal counsel for the East Georgia, so we have already been working with them over the last few years, and for us this an opportunity, mostly for the students in the community, while still ensuring the campus in Swainsboro stays open, stays vibrant, and continues the culture and history there but provides more access to programs and student support,” he said.

EGSC has been primarily a two-year institution, offering mainly associate degrees. While Georgia Southern offers advanced degrees and is now pushing to raise its status as a research university, EGSC is an “access institution” with nearly open enrollment instead of restrictive admission standards.

“The (EGSC) mission will remain as an open-access institution, as it is now,” Marrero said.

This is how Georgia Perimeter College continued to operate, as a unit of Georgia State University, when they were first consolidated, he noted, and also observed that Georgia Southern’s Liberty Campus is already “open access.”

But when asked whether the name to appear on signs in Swainsboro will be something like, “East Georgia College of Georgia Southern University” or something else, Marrero said, “We don’t know yet.”

Also to be determined is the future of East Georgia’s competitive athletic teams and beloved Bobcat mascot.

“Our goal, our hope, is to continue that,” he said.

The fact that EGSC is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association, or NJCAA, “which is a different entire organization,” while the GS Eagles programs are ranked in the NCAA could make it “feasible to keep both. …,” Marrero said. “That is the intent.”

Perdue, Marrero and Schecter were scheduled to appear at the EGSC Swainsboro campus for a town hall meeting Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.