GMC News

GMC in downtown Stone Mountain will have a core curriculum and is offering free tuition for 2011 high school graduations for the first fall quarter. By Theresa Waldrop | Email the author | July 4, 2011 Stone Mountain is becoming a college town:Georgia Military College will open an extension downtown tomorrow and begin offering classes next month. The extension at 5325 Manor Drive, in the renovated annex next to the Sue Kellogg Library, will offer core classes required for a two-year degree, according to the extension center director, Janis Anderson. More courses will be offered as the college expands, she said. “The plan is to grow so we can move out of that building” and into something bigger, but still in Stone Mountain, Anderson said. Georgia Military College is a two-year, accredited liberal arts college, founded in 1879. For Stone Mountain, having a college is “huge,” said City Manager Barry Amos.City merchants and the library have been helpful and welcoming, Anderson said. The college has open enrollment, so students can enroll up to the day the class starts, and is still accepting applications. “We remain flexible,” Anderson said, to accommodate the changing schedules of military servicemen and women. The college is not just for people in the military, though, and most of the some 6,000 students at its campuses and extensions, spread throughout the state, are civilians, according to Anderson. At the Stone Mountain extension, 2011 high school graduates can attend the first fall quarter, which starts August 8, for free, Anderson said. They must first apply for state and federal aid, but tuition will be waived whether they qualify for the aid or not. Tuition will also be waived for Stone Mountain city employees, Anderson said. The Stone Mountain extension will hold an open house July 15 at 11 a.m., and a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held July 18 at 11 a.m. Click here for more information about Georgia Military College.