University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue is bemoaning an increase in online classes in the state’s colleges and universities.

“It’s somewhat concerning to me as we look at this trend from post-COVID time over more and more online,” Perdue said at a Board of Regents meeting held at Georgia Southern University Tuesday. “This is really a response to our broader audience, including our presidents in the audience today, to understand if this is driven by faculty or student demand in that regard.”

“I mean, if we continue that, we can become the Western Governors University and not need all the new square footage that’s being requested every year, so that’s just a simple issue,” he added, referring to a private online university.

Perdue was reacting to a presentation on the system’s enrollment for the spring semester that showed an upward creep in online-only classes.

The portion of undergraduates studying completely online was 16% in 2022 after a spike in the aftermath of the pandemic and has since crept up to 19%. The portion of undergrads taking only face-to-face classes meanwhile shrunk from 45% in 2022 to 39% this year.

In all, 42% of undergrads take some classes online and some in person, up from 39% in 2022.

Perdue acknowledged a 2024 university system study that did not show much difference in academic outcomes between online and face-to-face classes for undergraduates, but indicated he does not like the way the trend is moving, asking staff to compile data on how Georgia compares with other states.

In remarks at the end of the public meeting, Perdue also called on university presidents to bring their workforces back onto campus.

“While we had remote work as a privilege for a while, our expectation — my expectation — is when a family, a prospective student or parents or grandparents call the campus on Friday afternoon, they get an answer,” he said.

“We’re in the customer service business,” he added. “And therefore, we are expressing our absolute expectation for our campuses to be covered five days a week — five days a week — that’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, all those days for our campuses, and the expectation is of our employees to come back to the campus where the energy happens in that regard, and I hope that we’re going to continue to do that. I hope that we’re going to get good cooperation from our presidents and our campuses everywhere along with that. So if that’s not what you all want, you let me know because that’s where we’re going in that regard.”

There wasn’t too much else for Perdue to bemoan in Tuesday’s enrollment report, which showed steady growth for the system.

Spring 2025 enrollment is 345,823, up 19,400 students or 6% from last spring and an all-time record for the spring semester.

Demographically, the number of white students has steadily dropped, down from 47% in 2021 to 42% today. The number of Black students has remained mostly steady in that time frame, dipping slightly from 26% to 25%.

Hispanic and Asian students have seen the most growth, with the portion of Hispanic students rising from 10% to 12% and Asian students moving from 11% to 14%.

Students in the other category, which includes American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, grew 1% to make up 7% of the total population.

In-state enrollment grew by 5%, out of state enrollment by 11% and international by 6.5%.

In-state students make up about 78% of students, out-of-staters comprise just over 14% and the remaining approximately 8% are international students.

 

Tuition stays mostly flat

On Tuesday, the regents voted to keep tuition flat for in-state students across nearly all of the system’s 26 public colleges and universities.

The exceptions are the University of North Georgia and Albany State University, which are starting a three-year plan to bring undergraduate tuition into alignment across all programs. UNG students who are currently paying less than the prevailing tuition rate will pay $24 more per credit hour, and Albany State students paying less than the going rate will see the cost of a credit hour go up $21.

The decision to keep tuition flat for most in-state undergraduates comes a year after the regents increased in-state undergraduate tuition by 2.5%.

Under the plan, out-of-state tuition will increase by 2%, and out-of-country tuition will rise by 3%.

The regents also approved changes to fees that will raise costs across six schools: the University of Georgia, Albany State University, Clayton State University, Fort Valley University, Dalton State University and the University of North Georgia.

Not counting the online learning fee paid by online students, parents of kids in those institutions could be forking over up to $30 in increased fees in addition to tuition.

Two USG schools are set to see lower mandatory fees. Fees at Georgia Tech are set to drop by $25, and Georgia College and State University students are set to pocket an extra $15 in savings.

The board said this will be the seventh time in 10 years the state has voted not to increase tuition, and that adjusted for inflation, in-state students are on average paying less in tuition than they were in 2017.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Georgia Recorder. 

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