Lanier Technical College, over the next eight years, hopes to raise its number of graduates by 5 percent every year.

The objective is one of three the college submitted to the Technical College System of Georgia in an improvement plan required by Complete College Georgia, an initiative launched by Gov. Nathan Deal in August 2011.

The state’s goal is to add 250,000 post-secondary graduates by 2020 in order to meet projected workforce needs. Some 42 percent of the state’s population holds such a degree, but 60 percent is needed in the next eight years, according to a study done last year by Georgetown University.

Lanier Tech, which graduated more than 830 students in fiscal year 2009, aims to raise that number by 5 percent each year, while increasing those who graduate with a degree, instead of solely a diploma, by 40 students per year.

The school also plans to increase the number of students it successfully remediates each year by 4 percent.

“The global mission of the Complete College Georgia plan is to produce more graduates, and we felt like these three benchmarks would enable the college to hopefully produce more graduates,” said Joanne Tolleson, vice president of operations for Lanier Tech. “We had extensive data provided by the TCSG ... we went through and tried to pull out where we were doing well and where we should focus on.”

To accomplish these goals, the college plans to hire two full-time career and academic advisers by the end of this semester.

The idea, according to the report, is the two additional positions will “improve retention, and therefore degree production, across all disciplines.” Those advisers will be provided with new software, allowing them to “better identify students needing intervention,” and that allows them to personalize and track that intervention plan.

The school also plans to develop various retention strategies, along with tracking success rates across all demographics.

“I think it was a beneficial process for the college,” said Tolleson. “It helped us look at what’s best for our students. The governor’s initiative provided a framework for us to analyze the college at a different level.”

While analyzing the data, officials at Lanier Tech found several trends.

According to the improvement plan, it was found that “females graduate at significantly higher rates than males; Pell students have a higher percentage of success; and full-time students have a higher graduation rate than either part-time or transfer students.”

The study found part-time students are at the most risk of not graduating, with only 18.3 percent of the students graduating with degrees, compared to 29.8 percent of full-time students.

“We were fortunate that TCSG has an excellent analysis team,” said Tolleson. “It really helped us get a leg up on what would be beneficial for Lanier Tech as we approached this new initiative. We really believe we’re going to increase our number of graduates.”

Tolleson said the report was submitted to the system in August, but work started nearly six months ago.

“We looked closely at different populations in the school and identified different strategies that gave the best chance on helping the most students,” said Tolleson. “I think (the goals are) reachable. We’re really stuck in setting our goals.”

According to a news release from the governor’s office, statewide, the initiative looks at three key areas: keeping Georgia competitive in producing an educated workforce; ensuring academic quality; and providing the opportunity of higher education and supporting student success through effective use of resources.

“We went through the process, honestly, with the goal to increase the number of graduates — to do our part in the partnership with the TCSG and the (University System of Georgia’s) goals,” said Tolleson. “I really think it will make a difference.”