Vinson Demographer Aids Regents' Strategic Planning Effort
The University System Board of Regents is managing the changing dynamics of Georgia's population with help from Public Service Assistant Mathew Hauer, head of the Institute's Applied Demography Program.
The regents invited Hauer to a strategic planning session last week to share data about how migration and population growth will impact the University System of Georgia over the next few decades.
"There will be growth. It's just going to be slightly different growth than what the (university system) has typically had," said Hauer.
His presentation, "Georgia's Changing Demographics and Higher Education," focuses in part on changes in the population cohort that's moving in to the Peach State.
"Georgia's been experiencing an explosive amount of in-migration over the past 30 years," said Hauer. "That's what's been fueling the growth in the university system."
A slowdown in migration caused by the recession that began in 2008 likely will continue, and the racial composition of the people moving into Georgia also will continue to morph, he said. The growth of the African American population will continue to outpace that of whites over the next 20 years, but the fastest-growing segments of the population will be Hispanics and non-traditional minorities like Asians and people who identify themselves as multiracial.
The regents should prepare for steady but slower enrollment growth over the next 10 years, from nearly 315,000 students now to around 350,000 in 2022.
Hauer gave his presentation on the second day of the regents' two-day November session in Atlanta.
