Albany Technical College vs Columbus Technical College

Metric	Albany Technical College	Columbus Technical College
Undergraduate enrollment	2,029	2,719
In-state tuition	$3,364	$4,052
Out-of-state tuition	$5,932	$7,262
Average net price What students actually pay after aid	$4,524	$4,001
Median debt at graduation	$12,412	$8,756
Graduation rate	42.3%	26.7%
First-year retention	50.7%	52.2%
Median salary (10 yr)	$30,541	$34,238

Metric

Albany Technical College

Columbus Technical College

Undergraduate enrollment

2,029

2,719

In-state tuition

$3,364

$4,052

Out-of-state tuition

$5,932

$7,262

Average net price
What students actually pay after aid

$4,524

$4,001

Median debt at graduation

$12,412

$8,756

Graduation rate

42.3%

26.7%

First-year retention

50.7%

52.2%

Median salary (10 yr)

$30,541

$34,238

What the numbers say

Columbus Technical College costs less after aid — $4,001 a year versus $4,524, a difference of $523 annually, or roughly $2,092 across four years.
Columbus Technical College graduates report higher median earnings — $34,238 against $30,541 ten years after entry.
Albany Technical College graduates a larger share of its students — 42.3% versus 26.7%.
On pure return — salary divided by net price — Columbus Technical College comes out ahead at 8.6× versus 6.8×.

Comparison tables are a starting point, not a decision. Three things matter more than anything in the table above:

Your real aid offer. Net price is an average across all income levels. Two students at the same school can pay amounts that differ by tens of thousands. Wait for actual award letters before ruling anything out on cost.
Your intended major. Earnings vary more between majors at one school than between schools for one major. A computer science graduate from the "lower earning" school here will likely out-earn a general studies graduate from the other.
Whether you will finish. Graduation rate is the metric most predictive of whether the money spent turns into a credential. Campus fit, support services, and commute all feed into it more than prestige does.

Visit before you commit

Both Albany Technical College and Columbus Technical College run campus visits. Spending an afternoon on each will tell you things no dataset can.