Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Atlanta vs Southeastern Technical College

Metric	Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Atlanta	Southeastern Technical College
Undergraduate enrollment	824	1,008
In-state tuition	$16,657	$3,400
Out-of-state tuition	$16,657	$5,968
Average net price What students actually pay after aid	$27,365	$10,612
Median debt at graduation	$31,500	$5,750
Graduation rate	46.3%	37.5%
First-year retention	74.1%	68.6%
Median salary (10 yr)	$48,191	$30,329

Metric

Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Atlanta

Southeastern Technical College

Undergraduate enrollment

824

1,008

In-state tuition

$16,657

$3,400

Out-of-state tuition

$16,657

$5,968

Average net price
What students actually pay after aid

$27,365

$10,612

Median debt at graduation

$31,500

$5,750

Graduation rate

46.3%

37.5%

First-year retention

74.1%

68.6%

Median salary (10 yr)

$48,191

$30,329

What the numbers say

Southeastern Technical College costs less after aid — $10,612 a year versus $27,365, a difference of $16,753 annually, or roughly $67,012 across four years.
Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Atlanta graduates report higher median earnings — $48,191 against $30,329 ten years after entry.
Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Atlanta graduates a larger share of its students — 46.3% versus 37.5%.
On pure return — salary divided by net price — Southeastern Technical College comes out ahead at 2.9× versus 1.8×.

How to actually choose

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 Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Atlanta and Southeastern Technical College run campus visits. Spending an afternoon on each will tell you things no dataset can.