MACON, Ga. — Eager, ambitious, but still a little confused about the future. That's how many high school seniors feel after graduating, not knowing their path. Northside High School graduate, Kayla Chapman, found herself in that situation and headed to Denver after graduation.
"I wanted to go somewhere to find out what I wanted to do," explained Chapman.
A job as a sales agent for a ski resort helped Chapman discover her love for marketing.
"I just wanted to find something I could do that made me feel like I was doing something great. Marketing was that for me," says Chapman.
Chapman is pursuing a marketing degree at Middle Georgia State University. She's one of the students who has caused fall enrollment at the University System of Georgia to hit a record high of 344,392. It's an increase after two years of enrollment declines.
"This current fall, we have an overall increase of nearly 5%," says Stephen Schultheis, Middle Georgia State's vice president for enrollment.
Schultheis says in 2020, enrollment was on a roll; they noticed a shift in 2021.
"We saw less new students coming in and a lot of new students that started with us dropout," says Schultheis.
In Fall 2021, the USG's enrollment was at about 340,000 students. Then, fall 2022 enrollment dropped to about 334,000.
In the fall of 2021, enrollment at MGA was 7,885; now, enrollment is about 8,000.
Schultheis believes MGA saw this growth due to its programs and affordability.
"Duel enrollment and graduate enrollment were the highest increases we've ever seen, with 28% freshmen enrollment growing 27% in 2 years," says Schultheis.
Chapman's enjoying what college life is bringing her, especially the networking.
"I like meeting students that have the same goal as me here," says Schultheis.
Right now, Georgia College and State University's enrollment sits at 6,800 students. In 2021, it was 6,700. The number of students at USG rose by about 10,000 over last fall.