From preschool to post-graduate, academic institutions in the Augusta area offer high-quality education that is award winning, accessible and affordable. Public schools in Richmond and Columbia counties have some of the highest rankings in the state. Also available are highly desirable private and parochial schools, a state-funded pre-kindergarten program and fine universities.

Richmond County boasts an award-winning public magnet school called Davidson Fine Arts School. Davidson has been recognized twice as a National Magnet School of Excellence, one of only 16 magnet schools in the nation to receive this award in 2003, and has also been recognized for the top SAT scores in the state of Georgia for the past 10 years.

School rankings are based on data from standardized test and SAT scores compiled by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF) and packaged in an annual “report card.” The 2008 Georgia Education Report Card for Parents can be accessed online through the foundation’s web site: www.gppf.org. In the most recent rankings for public middle schools, the GPPF respectively ranked Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School and C.T. Walker Traditional Elementary School the number one and three schools in the state. Top-ranked high schools include Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School (number one), A.R. Johnson Magnet School (19th place) and Lakeside High School (29th).

Columbia County Public Schools
Richmond County Public Schools

Columbia County is known for having consistently top-ranking schools, with four elementary schools and three high schools ranked in the top 50. The school system is growing rapidly and has an aggressive expansion program in place. The county offers challenging coursework through advanced placement (AP) courses in high school and a gifted program in elementary and middle schools.

Programs in both counties are available to assist both gifted and disadvantaged students. Tech prep prepares high school students for the workplace through a combination of academic and technical training. Magnet (available only in Richmond County), advanced placement and gifted programs challenge and stimulate educationally advanced students. Students in Richmond and Aiken counties can apply to participate in a rigorous curriculum with an international perspective called the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program (available at select high schools). For students with developmental challenges, special education services include regular classroom placement with special services as well as full-day programs in specialized facilities.

For those who prefer a private or parochial school, the Augusta area offers nearly 20 different schools. Just a few include Westminster Schools of Augusta, Augusta Preparatory Day School, Aiken Preparatory School, Episcopal Day School, Augusta Christian Schools, St. Mary on the Hill Catholic School and Aquinas High School.

Many of the fine students in the area’s private and public schools began their formal education in preschools. Georgia funds a universal pre-kindergarten program open to any 4 year old in the state. The yearlong school readiness program is available at no cost at several preschool providers in the Augusta area. Georgia’s pre-K program, funded by the Georgia Lottery for Education’s HOPE program, has been described as the largest preschool initiative, per capita, in the nation.

Other major HOPE initiatives include funding computer equipment and capital construction outlays to grades K-12 and tuition assistance at technical institutions, colleges, such as Georgia Military College, and universities, such as Brenau University and Troy University. HOPE has enabled hundreds of thousands of Georgia students to attend public colleges, universities and technical schools tuition-free or to receive partial tuition to a private college or university. The program, with eligibility determined by grades, not by finances, is considered one of the best scholarship programs in the nation.

Students can benefit from the HOPE scholarship at one of 13 educational institutions of higher learning within a 150-mile radius of Augusta.

In the heart of Augusta is the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), which boasts the state’s medical school. As Georgia’s Health Sciences University, MCG also has schools of dentistry, allied health sciences, nursing and graduate studies. Augusta State University offers undergraduate, graduate and cooperative doctoral programs. And Paine College is a four-year private liberal arts college.

Commuting to the University of Georgia in Athens takes about one-and-a-half hours and Georgia Southern in Statesboro is about a two-hour drive. Attending classes at the University of South Carolina in Columbia is easily managed with only an hour’s drive from Augusta (the Aiken campus is about a half-hour drive).

Augusta Technical College has the distinction of being the only technical school in Georgia to win the U.S. Secretary of Education’s Award of Excellence. The school coordinates the state-funded Quick Start program that trains employees for businesses that are opening or expanding their operation in the region. According to the Georgia Quick Start program web site, this custom-designed training program has received national recognition from Fortune and Expansion Management magazines.

Medical College of Georgia
Augusta State University
Paine College