Caitlin Fulton is a busy Covington mother. Amber Krutke works as a medical assistant in Macon. The two women consider Georgia Perimeter College’s Newton Campus as their “home” campus. But don’t expect to see them in class.

Both women are taking courses fully online at GPC, making them part of the largest online program within the University System of Georgia,  with more than 9,000 students. The next largest online program within the USG is the University of West Georgia, with fewer than 1,000 students, according to a 2013 National Center for Education Statistics enrollment survey.

Georgia Perimeter’s current online spring enrollment of 9,072 students makes the program also the largest ‘campus’ at GPC,” says Dr. Margaret Ehrlich, the college’s online dean. “Of those, 4,436—49 percent—are fully online students,” she says. “We are second to the Dunwoody Campus with the total number of credit hours. Our 54,096 hours represent 27.4 percent of the credit hours offered by all campuses at the college.”

Currently, the college offers 139 courses online.

Ehrlich notes that 20 percent of all GPC college freshmen and 39 percent of all non-traditional students take at least one online course.

While they may be in a virtual classroom, online students benefit from the same programs as their peers in physical classrooms. There is a fully online student success team, plus online tutoring help, plus advising and counseling to help students navigate their career paths. But even with these tools, both women say that time management is critical to success in an online environment.

“I utilize a planner at the beginning of each week to plan out my homework for the week around my work schedule,” says Krutke, who says she has taken all her courses through GPC’s online program.

“I like to give myself a reasonable to-do list every single day that I must accomplish before I am allowed to do anything else,” Krutke adds. “Sometimes this means I am sitting in front of a computer for three days straight when the [homework] load for the week is large; sometimes this means I can do my homework in the morning and get everything done and take some time to relax. Having discipline is extremely important.”

Fulton juggles her studies with a job as a technology support specialist in GPC’s Office of Information Technology on Newton Campus. Taking her classes online allows her more flexibility and time as a parent, she says.  

“My hours work very well with my school/home schedule, and both my co-workers and my supervisor are supportive of my educational goals,” says Fulton. She is on track to graduate with an associate degree in teacher education/special education this May.

GPC offers 15 fully online associate degrees, as well as a three-year business administration degree and a Bachelor of Science information technology degree with Georgia Southwestern State University. It also offers associate degrees online through the Community College of the Air Force.