ATLANTA
The neighborhood around Georgia State University was for years a maze of boarded up storefronts, aging buildings and parking lots that emptied at the close of each day.
But the downtown Atlanta campus is shedding its sleepy commuter school image thanks to plush new dorms, gleaming classroom buildings, Greek life and, yes, even football.
Georgia State and other former night schools across the country are transforming into more traditional college campuses to boost enrollment and gain prestige. And each is creating a thriving community that spills over into surrounding neighborhoods, drawing restaurants and retail into once empty streets.
“Students say it makes it a ‘real university,’” Georgia State President Carl Patton said while sitting in the campus’ airy student center. “What they mean is, ‘You have sports, you have an honors program, you have fraternities and sororities, you have freshman housing, you have places to eat on campus and you have a theater to go to.’”
The change is putting universities once thought to be only for working adults on the radar of newly minted high school graduates looking for the college experience in a big city. With brand new dorms and long lists of student activities, the campuses are able to draw from a much broader pool of students who come from across the globe.
“It gives students a sense of community and belonging,” said Claire Van Ummersen, a vice president with the Washington, D.C.-based American Council on Education. “That’s very different from if everyone arrives, handles whatever course load they have that day and then leaves the campus.”
