MACON, Ga. — Middle Georgia State University has crossed 10,000 students for the first time, a milestone the school reached in its 142nd year.
Fall 2026 enrollment climbed 14% to 10,070, the university said Thursday. The old high-water mark was 8,828 students.
Students are also sticking around longer. The share returning for another year rose to 67.22%, up from 62.61%, the best retention figure in 10 years. Students are carrying heavier schedules, too: registered credit hours reached 100,198, nearly 9% more than at the same point a year ago.
The growth came mostly from people already in the pipeline. Continuing undergraduates, graduate students and high schoolers taking college classes through dual enrollment all increased, while the number of new freshmen and transfer students held about even with last fall.
Ben Corpus, the vice president for enrollment management, said in the announcement that keeping more students enrolled matters as much as passing the 10,000 mark. He credited faculty and staff for opening doors for students and giving them the help they need to finish. President Christopher Blake said the record shows more students now see the university as a place to reach their goals, and he tied the gains to the school’s focus on affordable degrees that prepare graduates for jobs in Georgia and elsewhere.
The university was formed by merging Middle Georgia College and Macon State College. Its five campuses are in Cochran, Dublin, Eastman, Macon and Warner Robins, and it also teaches online, and offers more than 70 fields of study from certificates to doctorates. Its aviation school, based at the Eastman campus, is the state’s flagship program in that field.
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