Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Technical College System of Georgia Announces Four New College and Career Academies

  • 12/06/18

ATLANTA, GA – The board of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) has approved grants totaling $12 million to establish new College and Career Academies in Ben Hill County, Jackson County, Jones County, and Sumter County. TCSG Commissioner, Matt Arthur will award four partnerships with grant funds to establish the new College & Career Academies in the cumulative bond amount of $12 million and the cumulative cash amount of $440,000.

“As we look to the future, we see that many employment opportunities in Georgia will require education beyond high school,” says Gov. Nathan Deal. “To help meet this demand, Georgia’s College and Career Academies bring together the resources of local education systems and our technical college system to better prepare students to enter the workforce or pursue higher education. Community support is critical in our efforts to cultivate educational settings that introduce students to high-demand fields and strengthen academic achievement. With these four new academies in Ben Hill, Jackson, Jones and Sumter counties, TCSG is establishing even more innovative partnerships to expand opportunities for Georgia students in the years to come.”

Four of Georgia’s technical colleges will partner with local education systems to establish the academies. Wiregrass Georgia Technical College will partner with Ben Hill County Schools to establish the Fitzgerald High School College and Career Academy; Lanier Technical College will partner with Jackson County Schools to establish the Empower College and Career Academy; Central Georgia Technical College will partner with Jones County Schools to establish the Jones County High School College and Career Academy; and South Georgia Technical College will partner with Sumter County Schools to establish the Ignite College and Career Academy.  

“These four communities demonstrate tremendous leadership and vision when it comes to providing more students with educational programs that lead directly to a career,” says TCSG Commissioner Arthur. “College and Career Academies are a proven workforce development model that brings together high schools, technical colleges and industry to provide students with innovative, hands-on educational experiences that create a pipeline of skilled talent.”

The addition of these four will bring the number of College and Career Academies in Georgia to 47. More than 20,000 students are already enrolled in College and Career Academies throughout the state.

About TCSG
The 22 colleges of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) are Georgia’s top resource for skilled workers. TCSG offers world-class training in more than 600 associate degree, diploma, and certificate programs to students who are trained on state-of-the-art equipment by instructors who are experts in their fields. The system also houses Georgia’s Office of Adult Education, which promotes and provides adult literacy and education programs, including the GED® testing program, throughout the state. In addition, TCSG partners with companies through Quick Start, the nation’s top customized workforce training program, and through its individual colleges, who work with local industry to provide workforce and training solutions. For more information, visit TCSG.edu.

Featured

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • Montclair State University Starts Construction on $120M STEM Building

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $120-million Interdisciplinary Science Building, according to university news. The university partnered with HoK Architects for the project’s design, and it’s scheduled to open in time for the 2028–29 academic year.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.

  • GeoCam and UCLA: Modernizing Campus Accessibility Mapping

    In early 2025, UCLA partnered with GeoCam to capture and modernize its pedestrian infrastructure data. The goal was ambitious but clear: to produce a high-accuracy, imagery-backed digital map of every sidewalk, pathway, ramp, and ADA-related feature on UCLA’s 419-acre campus.