Georgia Colleges: Tuition, Debt & Earnings (2026 stats)

Analysis & insights

EDsmart Data aggregates institution-level College Scorecard data for this profile. Highlights below compare local medians to U.S. and regional benchmarks.

Costs & borrowing

Georgia median public in-state tuition is $4,094, about -25.7% vs the national median. Versus the Southeast region, tuition is -18.0%.

Median graduate debt is $16,167 (+21.8% above the U.S. median of $13,271, and +11.8% vs the Southeast regional median of $14,456). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #35 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #9 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Georgia ranks #8 nationally (1 = lowest median sticker among states with data).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Georgia are $47,390, about -12.9% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,384).

The median campus reports 87.0% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 88.0% (-1.0 pp). Formal job-placement statistics are not published in Scorecard; treat this as a comparative outcome indicator, not a hire guarantee.

First-year, full-time retention at the median campus is 70.9% vs a U.S. median of 76.4%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 7.3% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 56.6% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Georgia ranks earnings #40 and employment proxy #32 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Berry College (93.3%), LaGrange College (92.5%), Georgia College & State University (92.0%), Piedmont University (90.7%), Georgia Southwestern State University (90.5%), University of Georgia (90.4%), Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus (89.5%), University of West Georgia (89.4%), University of North Georgia (89.2%), Georgia Southern University (89.1%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Georgia, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $38,118 (6 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $47,397 (26 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $48,472 (21 campuses). Public campuses often dominate enrollment while private nonprofits can show higher earnings medians at selective institutions.

Average institution-level completion rate across all sectors in Georgia is 41.0% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 786,579 residents with some college but no credential in Georgia (YoY change 3.20%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.