Georgia Southern University currently has its largest enrollment in the school's history, which means the city of Statesboro is growing with it.
17,748 students attend the university. That's up 28 percent from 10 years ago. More students are also choosing to stay at GSU. The school has an 81 percent retention rate, also the highest in the school's history.
Making Room
Georgia Southern's has many construction sites on campus. The university is building more residence halls as more students choose to study here.
"We have about 900 more students here this fall than last fall," says Georgia Southern President Bruce Grube.
He adds they have big plans for the university, hoping to improve the retention rate from where it stands at 81 percent to the low nineties. "We're getting more students but we're also getting more highly qualified students," says President Grube.
More People, More Lanes
More students attending Georgia Southern means more people heading into Statesboro. More than 15,000 people travel the East Statesboro Bypass every day.
The Department of Transportation just finished widening it to four lanes about three weeks ago. "This has really helped commute. It's helped congestion. We've had businesses coming into the area," says Brenda Howard with the GDOT.
She says Georgia Southern is one of the main reasons why the bypass is needed. "When DOT builds a road we try to project maybe up to 20 years," says Brenda.
The East Statesboro Bypass project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
President Grube is already predicting that in 12 years, the university will have thousands more enrolled. "We're master planned for 25,000 students by 2020. And I think we're going to see that."
Georgia Southern's freshman class has an average SAT score of 1111, higher than any class in the university's history.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement