WABE 90.1 FM, Sept. 5, 2014

Georgia Perimeter College is turning 50. Students, faculty, and staff celebrated Friday during Fall Convocation at the Clarkston Campus.

Georgia Perimeter opened as DeKalb College in 1964, and is the state’s oldest two-year college. But the venerable institution hit a roadblock in 2012. That’s when the school’s accreditor sanctioned it for running a $25 million deficit.

“In 2012, GPC’s unrestricted net assets were a negative $6.8 million dollars,” said Ron Stark, Georgia Perimeter’s executive vice president for financial affairs. “We were technically bankrupt.”

Thanks to improved accounting practices, the sanction was lifted in 2013. This year, Stark said, Georgia Perimeter’s financial outlook has improved drastically.

The University System’s Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Houston Davis gave the keynote address. He noted 20 years ago, 28% of jobs required a post-secondary degree, but said that’s changed.

“Fast forward to 2018 and that statistic has steadily increased to where the projections are that 62% of all job opportunities that are out there for the public require them to have something beyond a high school diploma,” Davis said. “That is a significant change in a very, very short period of time.”

Georgia Perimeter has five campuses in metro Atlanta and has the state’s largest online learning program.