A Mighty Mission: The Technical College System of Georgia Hits New Heights
Creating educational and workforce opportunities.
Pursuing Academic Dreams: At Chattahoochee Tech, Patria Brown is close to earning her associate’s degree and then plans to complete coursework for her bachelor’s degree at Reinhardt University. Photo credit: Kevin Garrett
Despite multiple health and family setbacks that kept her from graduating from high school, Patria Brown was a voracious reader from an early age. Now a mother of six, Brown credits that love of reading with setting her on the path she’s on today: encouraging her children’s academic dreams while pursuing her own. Brown proudly holds a GED and is a few hours shy of earning her associate’s degree in business management from Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta. Later this year, she plans to transfer to Reinhardt University in Waleska to complete the coursework for her bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Brown’s remarkable success story is a testament to the power of personal grit and resilience, combined with the resources available through adult education and the Technical College System of Georgia. The 22 technical colleges – with 88 campuses and more than 600 programs – aims to boost the career prospects of thousands of Georgians and shape the state’s future workforce. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 47,496 students graduated from technical colleges – the highest in TCSG history – and many of them had overcome challenges similar to Brown.
In 2022, after her fourth-oldest child entered high school as a senior, Brown enrolled in GED classes at Cobb County’s Adult Education Center. That night, after she enrolled, she got into her car and wept, emotions flooding over her. “I couldn’t believe I finally made the step to do it,” she says.
A couple of days later, she returned to take reading and math assessments. Math was her academic nemesis, but she slayed the reading assessment. One advisor told her that, based on her test score, she wouldn’t need to be there long.
The GED is divided into four subject-area tests: reading, math, social studies and science. Brown devised a strategy to finish the GED in one academic year. By knocking out the reading and social studies tests first, which played to her strengths in reading comprehension, she left herself more time to study science and math.
She started classes in August and passed her GED social studies test in September and the reading test in November. In early 2023, Brown passed the science GED test, and in April she passed the math GED. It took her eight months.
“I sat in my car after the test, and the results came in within maybe 10 minutes,” she recalls. “I sent the results to the family chat. My husband called and said, ‘I’m so proud,’ but what really took me out was my [oldest] daughter, who called me. I had her when I was 16, and she’s seen every version of me as a mom. We sat together and cried on the phone.”
In 2024, Brown was named the TCSG’s Adult Education Student of the Year, also known as the Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education (EAGLE) Award. She received a full scholarship to the technical college of her choice and a stipend from a scholarship fund to cover fees and books. The EAGLE Award opened the door to new opportunities. Brown participated in a three-day conference in Atlanta, met with legislators and traveled statewide to speak with civic and community groups about literacy and lifelong learning.
“The data shows that when people come to us, they already understand where good-paying, high-demand jobs are needed. And if not, our advisors are doing a really good job of helping them focus on an area that is needed.” – Greg Dozier, commissioner, Technical College System of Georgia
One year later, in March 2025, Brown was honored nationally as the 2024-2025 Coalition on Adult Basic Education Adult Learner of the Year for “overcoming significant obstacles to pursue [her] education while demonstrating leadership and inspiring others.” She received a $2,000 award and was recognized for her outstanding contributions to adult education. In addition to pursuing her education, Brown now works as the student registrar at the Cobb Adult Education Center, a place she says deals in hope every day.
“Every time someone passes one of the tests, they come into the Student Services department, and we take their picture and post it on all the TV monitors around the school,” she says. “It reminds me of two feelings: being at a wedding, that day you get married, and being at a baptism. I get goosebumps and tears, especially if it’s a student who I know had a rough time. I can feel that feeling all over again.”
System Records Shattered
Brown’s transition from GED student to technical college student to soon-to-be university system student is exactly what TCSG Commissioner Greg Dozier wants to see. And it’s what the system’s data continues to show. The record-breaking number of graduates is a 16% increase over the previous year. Statewide enrollment increased by 7.1% to just over 159,000.
Increasing Enrollment: Greg Dozier, commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia. Photo credit: Ben Rollins
Whether it’s an adult learner earning a GED, a worker earning a certification to advance in their career or a high school student taking a dual enrollment class, the TCSG mission is to create a robust workforce. And last year, the TCSG saw enrollment more evenly distributed across those areas. Dual enrollment is no longer the system’s primary enrollment driver as TCSG has seen a 7.1% increase in enrollment from traditional students, described as non-dual enrollment students in credit-bearing programs.
Dozier cites Georgia Match as a likely contributor to the increase in traditional student enrollment over the past couple of years. Georgia Match is a direct admissions program that notifies high school seniors of their eligibility for in-state college admission at TCSG and some University System of Georgia institutions, based on their 11th-grade academic performance.
Many of these students are choosing high-demand career paths. In the spring 2026 semester, Dozier says enrollment in manufacturing programs was up 18.9% over the same period in 2025.
“Aviation has consistently been up in the double digits for the last few years,” Dozier says. “Anything in healthcare, such as certified nursing assistant and nursing, has been up 20% just this fall semester [2025] over last fall. The data shows that when people come to us, they already understand where good-paying, high-demand jobs are. And if not, our advisors are doing a really good job of helping them focus on an area that is needed.”
The data provides TCSG leaders with the insights needed to align federal, state and TCSG resources with the needs of communities and business and industry partners, such as the apprenticeship partnership formalized in November 2025 between Savannah Technical College and the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA).
At the November ceremony, seven apprentices signed enrollment agreements to begin earning their Industrial Maintenance Systems Technology diplomas. Once they complete the course, they will join HMGMA’s equipment maintenance department, where they will learn on the job how to maintain and maximize the performance of expensive, increasingly complex manufacturing equipment. The paid positions include training in electrical and mechanical systems, hydraulics, pneumatics and gearing. Apprentices spend two days in the classroom and three days on-site at the plant. They are also assigned a mentor to guide their professional development.
“Those robotics, manufacturing and AI jobs are directly aligned with the technical training and skills that we have in our colleges,” says Dozier.
Apprenticeship Investment
When Georgia-Pacific announced the closure of its containerboard manufacturing mill in the Southwest Georgia community of Cedar Springs, laying off 535 employees, TCSG sprang into action. Armed with a three-year, $1.8 million U.S. DOL Employment Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant, the TCSG provided resources through local WorkSource offices.
Job Skills: Brandon Ona, executive director of business engagement for TCSG’s Office of Workforce Development. Photo credit: Ben Rollins
Job Skills: Brandon Ona, executive director of business engagement for TCSG’s Office of Workforce Development. Photo credit: Ben Rollins
“By partnering with our local workforce development area covering that region in our technical colleges, we’re fairly confident that we can connect [those affected by the layoffs] to not only a really good source of retraining, which ideally would be our technical colleges, but it can be any provider in the area,” says Brandon Ona, executive director of business engagement for TCSG’s Office of Workforce Development. “And provide them both the funds to cover their tuition and also provide them with wraparound services if they need them, covering the cost of transportation to training or childcare, if that’s a need, or supplies or materials.”
Ona says many of the displaced employees in Cedar Springs will find jobs in other manufacturing sites in the region.
“There may be a handful of others who choose an entirely different career,” he says. “An apprenticeship would be perfect because it allows them the direct pathway to a high-paying career.”
The TCSG mandate to supply the state with a capable, highly trained workforce was significantly bolstered when the system received $6.1 million in U.S. Department of Labor apprenticeship funding in 2025. It was the largest federal apprenticeship grant in the system’s history.
“[The grant] also allowed us to invest in actual registered apprenticeship programs throughout the state,” says Ona. “About half of those funds are going to our [17] local workforce development areas that are trying to get underemployed and unemployed individuals back into the workforce, and now they can do that specifically with registered apprenticeship programs.”
The other half of the funds was used to create the Top State for Talent Apprenticeship Expansion Grant, a competitive opportunity open to all 17 workforce development areas across Georgia. Each area will use its award to pilot registered apprenticeship programs in partnership with TCSG institutions. The incentive program, officially known as the Investing in Top Talent Incentive Fund, will have regular application windows over the next two to three years to spread funding beyond the initial round. The grant is expected to support approximately 750 apprentices statewide.
Employers in high-demand industries were encouraged to apply for the Top Talent Incentive Program to either initiate or expand U.S. Department of Labor-approved registered apprenticeship programs at their companies. Employers could receive up to $2,000 per apprenticeship for up to 10 apprentices, subject to funding availability. They could use those funds to cover the costs of establishing apprenticeships, including curriculum development, train-the-trainer activities, training equipment and on-the-job learning costs – excluding wages.
Positive Partnership: Seven apprentices from Savannah Technical College who are seeking diplomas in Industrial Maintenance Systems Technology will get hands-on experience at the Hyundai Metaplant. Photo credit: Savannah Tech
Creating “Top Talent”
High-demand careers have been part of the TCSG vocabulary since former Gov. Nathan Deal launched the High Demand Career Initiative in 2014 to learn directly from businesses about their training and workforce needs.
Today, under Gov. Brian Kemp’s leadership, the TCSG is laser-focused on developing top talent for those high-demand careers. That can mean investing in apprenticeships, short-term credential programs, or creating articulation agreements. One such agreement was announced in July 2025 between TCSG and the University System of Georgia. It allows TCSG graduates with associate degrees in nursing programs to transfer directly into participating USG institutions to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
The common goal is connection, says Dozier.
“When you talk about our ‘one-stop shops’ and alignment, especially our virtual assistance and all the [career] counseling we’re doing, we’re taking folks who are either unemployed or underemployed, and we’re connecting them to a system that connects directly to skill training for the jobs that are available,” Dozier says.
At Columbus Technical College, Summer Loyd serves as an Integrated Education and Training and Workplace Literacy Coordinator, helping adult education students gain the workplace skills needed to fill high-demand jobs in the community. Using Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning Expanding Parents’ Access to Nontraditional Delivery grant funding and leveraging the HOPE Career Grant, Columbus Tech developed an accelerated Early Childhood Care certificate program that could be completed in just five weeks. For some students, earning that technical college certificate was what they wanted to get directly into the workforce. For others, the certification whetted their appetite for more.
“Many students end up continuing on in that field, going for more education than we paid for,” Loyd says.
Experiential Learning: A Savannah Technical College student gets hands-on experience installing dashboard components, above. Savannah Tech’s nursing program allows students to simulate labor and delivery using medical mannequins, below. Photo credit: Savannah Tech
In such cases, students can continue to apply for the HOPE Career Grant and other financial assistance to cover tuition costs, as early childhood education is a high-demand career.
Columbus Tech also has a robust education partnership with Muscogee County and Harris County Prisons, training eligible incarcerated individuals in high-demand skills such as forklift operations, welding and basic construction. Working in coordination with the college’s Economic Development division, courses are offered both at the prison via mobile training units and at the college through the adult education program, so inmates can earn their certifications and work on their GEDs at the same time. There’s another practical benefit: on-the-job training.
“Some of the guys… finish the welding program and then [find] some work at their facility or with different prisons throughout the state that need that kind of help,” says Loyd. “When they go through this short-term training, it trains them to do jobs they will do while they’re finishing out their [sentences].”
“Our technical colleges are really the key to higher education and workforce development.” – Benjy Thompson, CEO, Development Authority of Bulloch County
Supply, Meet Demand
In September, the doors will open at the new 37,000-square-foot Georgia Industrial Systems and Robotics Training Center at Ogeechee Technical College in Bulloch County. Not a moment too soon, says Jan Moore, OTC’s vice president of economic development.
Technology Training: Jan Moore, vice president of economic development at Ogeechee Technical College, and Benjy Thompson, CEO of the Bulloch County Development Authority, in an industrial lab that will be housed in OTC’s Georgia Industrial Systems and Robotics Training Center when it opens in the fall. Photo credit: Frank Fortune
“We’ve had to split the [students] up, training in two buildings and holding our breath,” she says. “We can’t wait for the new building to be finished.”
The $23 million building is the culmination of a years-long public-private partnership between Ogeechee Tech, Bulloch County and the Development Authority of Bulloch County. It will house 12 industrial labs, classrooms, computer labs and meeting spaces devoted to training workers in industrial systems and robotics, a key regional industry with the Hyundai Metaplant and Tier 1 suppliers approximately 40 miles away.
“As a local economic developer, [I know that] our technical colleges are really the key to higher education and workforce development,” says Benjy Thompson, CEO of the Development Authority of Bulloch County. “That’s a place where people are trained to work, and most of the students who attend technical colleges are going to live close to the campus.”
As a training location of choice for Amazon, Mitsubishi and Rockwell Automation, Ogeechee Tech is already an industry leader in industrial operations technology training. The college currently supports just over 204,000 hours of customized contract training each year. The new building is expected to more than double that amount annually. Ogeechee Tech will start a new diploma program in Industrial Operations Technology when the new building opens.
“If somebody comes and goes through our diploma program, they will be hired before they graduate,” Moore says. “So, if you want these individuals, you’re going to have to connect with them before they ever graduate, because they will have a place to go. They will not be looking for a job. That’s the demand.” 
