More than 137,000 Georgia high school seniors will receive a personalized direct college admissions letter this month, as the GEORGIA MATCH program begins its second year.

Each letter will list the public colleges and universities in Georgia that are holding a spot for the recipient. The 23 University System of Georgia (USG) institutions participating in the program will waive application fees next month for students who used the GEORGIA MATCH dashboard at gafutures.org/GEORGIAMATCH.

“GEORGIA MATCH removes the uncertainty and anxiety association with the college application process,” said Lynne Riley, president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission. “The GEORGIA MATCH letter shows students the public colleges and universities where they meet the academic requirements for admission.”

The 22 Technical College of Georgia institutions also take part in GEORGIA MATCH. However, the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Georgia College & State University do not participate in the program because they have more stringent admission requirements.

During the first year of GEORGIA MATCH, more than half of the 132,000 students who received a letter applied for the 2024 fall semester to an institution on their letter.

USG schools reported a 10% increase in applications and a preliminary enrollment increase of 6.2% for the fall semester. The results were even better at the technical colleges, which reported a 26% increase in applications and a preliminary 9.3% rise in enrollment.

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.