East Georgia State College’s Statesboro campus is expected to relocate to the Georgia Southern University Statesboro campus by spring of 2020.

The Nessmith-Lane Conference Center on GS’ campus will house EGSC, and the GS Continuing Education Center, which currently inhabits the space, will move to the current EGSC campus.

“EGSC actually began its history in Statesboro on the GS campus,” Deborah Vess, PhD, vice president for Academic and Student Affairs, said in an email. “Administrators from both campuses have been discussing the advantages of relocating back to the GS campus for some time now.”

EGSC is a feeder institution for GS and offers classes and services to students who might not be ready to initially enter GS as freshmen.

“Our goal is to prepare EGSC-Statesboro students for transfer to GS, preferably upon completion of an associate’s degree, but often after 30 or more credit hours,” Vess said.

EGSC offers 15 associate’s degrees with disciplinary distinction, an associate of arts in core curriculum, a certificate in digital photography and three baccalaureate programs, Vess said.

EGSC also offers many academic support services, including tutoring, advising and a library.

However, EGSC students have some issues participating in some GS services, activities and classes as well as balancing a full class-load because of the distance between the two campuses.

The move to the GS campus will eliminate travel issues and allow EGSC students to better transition into life as a GS student, Vess said.

“Relocating to the GS Statesboro campus may allow our students to co-enroll in more GS classes, make use of the GS library and other academic support areas and participate in more co- and extra-curricular activities,” Vess said. “EGSC students will be better prepared to transfer to GS with this arrangement.”

Rachel Adams, The George-Anne News Reporter, ganewsed@georgiasouthern.edu