Increasing First-Year Student Success
To ensure that students in their first year at Georgia Gwinnett College have an experience that will help them succeed in all aspects of college life, GGC has implemented a program entitled First Year Matters (FYM).
This program utilizes a national model of excellence known as "Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year" associated with the Policy Center on the First Year of College. GGC is one of 12 four-year institutions selected this year to participate in this national higher education project due to its commitment to the first year experience.
Students live, learn, study, explore and socialize in college in their first year. Academics intersect with other activities and experiences. The boundaries between them are intentionally blurry. Students learn not only in classrooms but also in residence halls and coffee shops. Everything students do, every interaction, every adventure makes a contribution to the first year experience.
 "First Year Matters represents our commitment to student success. Student engagement is critical to make certain that new students, both entering freshmen and transfer students, have a successful transition into college. As GGC grows dramatically, we will systematically ensure that we don’t lose our first principle – student success."
— President Daniel J. Kaufman
Easing the Transition
The first year is a time of transition and exploration – students need to take risks, get involved and examine all the opportunities available to them.
It isn't easy being a new student. The First Year Matters program helps ease the transition from high school to college or from one institution to another. Research has long indicated that new students who are successfully integrated into college are much more likely to succeed.
Through the FYM program, GGC students are given the right introduction to college life to help them build a firm foundation for a strong future of learning.
About Foundations of Excellence
Since February of 2003, the Foundations of Excellence project has involved only 300 two- and four-year colleges and universities across the country in implementing the standards, Foundational Dimensions, which constitute a model first year.
GGC will work with the Policy Center throughout 2009-2010 to measure its effectiveness in recruiting, admitting, orienting, supporting, advising and teaching new students, both entering freshmen and transfer students. It will then be able to make programmatic improvements that will enhance student learning, success and persistence.
First Year Matters Vision
The right start for a life of scholarship, creativity, service and leadership.
First Year Matters Mission
Georgia Gwinnett College's First Year Matters establishes a foundation for student growth and success by transitioning and integrating all students into the College community. GGC's culture, policies, programs and services build and nurture the relationships between and among students, faculty and staff so that students build strong personal connections to the College community and develop a sense of themselves as competent learners, scholars and citizens.
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