Complete College Georgia

Campus Plan Updates

Complete College Georgia is a statewide effort to increase the number Georgians with a high quality certificate or degree. Under the leadership of Governor (now Chancellor) Sonny Perdue and subsequently Governor Nathan Deal, it has continued to build momentum since its launch in 2011. The University System of Georgia (USG) and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) have advanced high impact, research-driven strategies aligned with the primary goal of the initiative: to increase student access to, progression through, and successful graduation from institutions of higher education.

To capture the progress of the previous year, each campus provides updates on strategies, processes and outcomes in the enclosed status reports. The updates contain a self-assessment of the progress made to date, any substantial changes from last year’s plan, and reflect on lessons learned throughout the year. This year’s reports were streamlined and focused, with institutions asked to align goals, strategies, and measure of progress and success with their institutional profile and mission. This year’s report also provides a summary of System Office CCG activities. The plans that follow serve to update the campus plans that were first submitted in 2012 as well as to provide an overview of the breadth of work that is underway in Georgia to achieve the ambitious goals of Complete College Georgia.

The Momentum Year

In 2017, USG began full implementation of a Momentum Year for students. This approach applies a host of evidence-based strategies in combination to ensure that all students make a strong start to their college career. Specifically, the Momentum Year asks that institutions support all students:

• start out their college careers by making a purposeful choice in a focus area or program,
• enter with a productive academic Mindset,
• follow clearly sequenced pathway to graduation that include: in their first year:
  • core English and math
  • nine credits in the student’s academic focus area
  • and 30 credits.,

Put together, these three elements create a Momentum Year for students—a starting point that helps students find their path, get on that path and build velocity in the direction of their goals.

The Momentum Approach

Understanding a Momentum Approach to Student Success

Momentum provides a framework for understanding how institutions can maintain student progress toward a degree. A key component of the Momentum Approach was the intentional engagement of the whole campus community in support of student success, with the framework providing structure for understanding how various units across campus can support students across their lifecycle – from prospect to alumni. Even as the work of Momentum becomes less specific, the key expectations of scaling work for all students and relying on research-informed practices remain at the heart of Momentum.

Momentum in the University System of Georgia is focused on three overlapping lenses: Purpose, Pathways, and Mindset. By applying these perspectives to the student experience at every stage of the student journey and across the student experience on campus, institutions create an institutional context that helps all students succeed. In many areas, the practices and strategies that align with Momentum are well-established and supported by a significant research base.  In others areas, Momentum helps to frame the exploration and experimentation that will lead to the established practices of the future.

Savannah State University's Momentum Plan- https://completega.org/content/campus-completion-plans

Learn more about Complete College Georgia to explore the Momentum Plan.