Atlanta Metropolitan State College 2023

A core tenet of the Atlanta Metropolitan State College (also referred to as AMSC or “The Institution”) mission is to “offer student-centered instruction, civic/community engagement, and quality services that lead to the success of inter-generational 21 Century graduates.”  This Complete College Georgia (CCG)/Momentum Year (MY) update continues to build on these AMSC mission themes. AMSC serves a highly diverse student population, with 50% adult learners (25 years and older)/50% traditional students, 55% first-generation, and 100% commuters. The enrollment trend decreased over the past five years, until Spring 2023, when the FTE increased by 1.9% over the previous year. In Fall 2023, the institution experienced increases in enrollment and FTE changes, 8.1% and 9.3% over the previous year, respectively.  

The plan and strategies AMSC utilizes to support its first-year students is multi-faceted, taking into account the various academic support needs of the students. Because AMSC, as other University System of Georgia (USG) State Colleges, is an open-access institution, a significant number of high impact practices is built into the first-year freshman experience, to ensure students have real-time and individualized teaching and learning opportunities to provide them the best path to success. The literature shows that students who perform well in at least four of their freshman gateway courses have significantly higher graduation rates than other students. Thus, the success of new freshman is the target of various intervention strategies.  

A variety of course modalities and pedagogies are important to provide AMSC's adult learners and traditional students the flexibility they need to work and maintain their family lives while completing a degree. These include a balance of on-campus, online, and hybrid classes. Associate and bachelor program options allow 100% completion both on-campus and online. The institution provides academic coaching and mentoring for first-generation and other students who do not have the high-level family support afforded to many traditional students. A revised New Student Orientation (NSO) Program focuses on accessibility, effectiveness, and providing students a more comprehensive introduction to the College’s programs and academic support services.

AMSC has a large part-time student population, typically 55-60%, and implements various strategies for the timely graduation of all students. The institution fully supports and promotes the 15-to-finish strategy, realizing that students with full loads, on average, perform at a higher level. Part-time students are advised, when possible, to take at least 10 credits per semester, including summer terms. In doing so, part-time student will graduate within three years, or 150% of time expected, a national standard upon which graduation and retention rates are based. Evening, weekend, and early morning classes are offered to provide working students increased access to courses to complete their programs in shorter graduation times.

Providing relevant, high-impact practices (HIPs) that engage students and provide them various teaching methodologies and real-world career opportunities enhance the student experience.  The HIPs that target career-related opportunities include internships, apprenticeships, undergraduate research, and other programs that afford students the opportunity to make meaningful relationships with potential future employers, as well as, to empower students to make purposeful choices that raise the value of their education, giving a deeper meaning to completing college.

The goal of this report is to provide an update of the results, particularly focusing on first-year students. The benefit of enhancing the performance of first-year freshmen students will not only increase their academic success in courses, but also have the long-term impact of enhancing their retention and graduation rates.

Student Success Inventory

Table 1 provides a summary of AMSC’s goals, planning objectives, outcomes, and next year’s, FY24, plans associated with the College’s momentum approach.  This document outlines objectives and areas of exploration that are at various stages of planning and implementation. Certain goals and objectives have been updated, from the previous year, to align with the consolidation of Complete College Georgia and Momentum Year activities. Detailed assessment outcomes and discussions are provided later in this section.

The following activities represent updates/modifications to Section 2 of the FY22 Momentum Plan. For each of the four momentum goals presented, additional planning elements include: (1) objective(s) identifying the target result(s) expected, (2) rational for why the goal and objective(s) were chosen and their importance in student success; (3) action steps that were taken and assignment of responsibilities, and (4) assessments that provide methods for measuring progress in achieving goal objectives. Momentum goals and results not listed in this report are in early or intermediary stages of planning/development and will be provided in a future update.  The activities in this report are categorized or tagged to increase the sharing of similar ideas and results.