Forsyth pushes to create four-year college
Nancy Badertscher
11/18/06
Boosters say graduates will be needed to fill jobs in education, medicine and other fields in the fast-growing Northside county.
Forsyth County leaders are quietly pushing to add a new element to local education — a four-year college.
They don't have a formal proposal to take to the state Board of Regents, which hasn't been eager in recent years to finance any new college campuses.
But they are talking about building on an alliance they already have with North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega.
"It's an incredible opportunity to add to our economic and cultural vitality," said Lynn Jackson, administrator of Northside Hospital-Forsyth and the 2007 board chairman of the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce. "The leadership of the community and the chamber are all very hopeful."
Forsyth County, with about 150,000 residents, is one of the most populous counties on Atlanta's booming Northside without a public college. In a county that prides itself on developing upscale living and state-of-the art high schools, that's increasingly an issue.
"We have a lot of students that would probably further their education if they had [a college] in close proximity," said Cumming Mayor Henry Ford Gravitt. "It also would be beneficial to the entrepreneurs and business community."
About 700 residents attended a series of community meetings this fall to help map out a vision for Forsyth County for the year 2030, and at virtually every session, the need for a local, four-year college was raised, said Otis White, with Civic Strategies, the project's leader.
"It's an idea that clearly has captured people's imaginations," White said. "This is not a hard crowd to sell on why you need a college or university."
North Georgia has offered classes in Forsyth County for the past five years at local public schools and, more recently, through Lanier Technical College's satellite campus in Cumming. The focus has been core curriculum for students bound for a four-year college, said North Georgia President David Potter.
Potter said local business leaders have talked to him about the potential for a college campus that feeds on the county's successes with:- An education program that could turn out teachers for a public school system with an enrollment that is expected to skyrocket from 28,000 this year to 49,000 in 2012.
- Health care degrees for the medical hub at Northside Hospital-Forsyth in Cumming.
- Advanced business degree programs.
Potter said he was open to the college's prospects in Forsyth County. "We think we've got a pretty good fit with their emerging needs," he said.
James Maran, president and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, cautions that getting approval for a four-year college is no easy task.
"You just don't decide you want a college and get one," Maran said. "We lobbied [in Gwinnett County] for that for many, many years. It probably took about 10 years to get accomplished."
In 2005, the Georgia General Assembly and the Board of Regents approved the establishment of Georgia Gwinnett College on the former Gwinnett University Campus in Lawrenceville. It is the first state college created in Georgia since 1970.
John Millsaps, spokesman for the Board of Regents, said it's rare that "growth and demand are so significant that a new, stand-alone institution could be considered. In all cases, the Board of Regents gets involved, he said.
Several colleges already offer degree programs in the Ga. 400 corridor. For instance, the private Reinhardt College in Waleska has an Alpharetta campus with about 200 students.
Jackson said offering college classes at an office park or a high school isn't the same as having a college campus to entice students and potential new industry.
"It just doesn't feel right," she said. | | Related Link
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