Striving to increase its student body and diversity, Columbus State University will extend its campus to West Point, likely as early as this fall, and West Georgia Technical College students may be allowed to transfer credits to the four-year school.

The university’s president, Tim Mescon, and its dean of enrollment services, Kathy Carlisle, attended a “community meeting” hosted by the Greater Valley Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday night in West Point to give an update and answer questions about plans.

“There is about to be an explosion of business and commercial growth in this area with Kia and all of its suppliers,” Mescon said. “We felt like this place needs a four-year-university and it’s an excellent opportunity for CSU.”

Mescon became CSU’s fourth president in August and intends to increase CSU’s student enrollment to 10,000 by the fall of 2011. Its current enrollment is around 8,000.

“We have an absolute commitment to growth,” Mescon said. “We just finished up a four-month strategic plan on how to maximize our efficiency in West Point and as a university in general. It’s very important to implement the right kind of undergraduate programs that the businesses in this area most desire when recruiting college graduates. We have been and will continue meeting with local business representatives in this area so we can get it right the first time. We will also distribute surveys about the area’s greatest needs for graduate programs.”

Another of Mescon’s goals is obtain in-state tuition for Alabama residents in Lee and Russell counties. The school recently learned its request to offer in-state tuition to Chambers County has been granted.

“We plan to offer classes to this area this upcoming fall,” Mescon said. “If all goes as planned, in-state tuition will also be available at that time to those Alabama bordering counties. We are currently waiting for a decision to be made by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Then we can release a curriculum for this area.”

Mescon also said night and weekend classes probably will be an option so working individuals in West Point and the surrounding area will be able to attend.

“We want to make the courses offered fully accessible to anyone in the area,” Mescon said. “Nothing is taboo from that perspective. Our entire menu of online courses will be ramped up as well and the in-state tuition for Alabamians will also apply to that.”

In addition to increasing the applicability of its courses, CSU wants to partner with West Georgia Tech to allow credits to be transferred over.

“We just met with (West Georgia Tech’s interim) president, Perrin Alford, yesterday and will meet more of its faculty sometime next week,” Carlisle said. “Our goal is to make it where West Georgia Tech students can work toward a four-year degree by being able to transfer their credits over to CSU. The idea is for them to be able to bundle credits and get a BA while working.”

Columbus State originated in 1958 as a junior college and became a four-year-institution in 1965 and is a Division II school.

The university currently offers 50 undergraduate degrees and 30 graduate degrees. It also will launch its first doctorate program through its Turner College of Business in the fall.

Kenneth Thompson can be reached at kethompson@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.