Coastal Pines Technical College vs East Georgia State College

Metric	Coastal Pines Technical College	East Georgia State College
Undergraduate enrollment	1,648	1,413
In-state tuition	$3,268	$2,900
Out-of-state tuition	$5,836	$9,860
Average net price What students actually pay after aid	-$126	$9,626
Median debt at graduation	—	$11,750
Graduation rate	48.3%	16.7%
First-year retention	66.3%	60.7%
Median salary (10 yr)	$30,214	$37,174

Metric

Coastal Pines Technical College

East Georgia State College

Undergraduate enrollment

1,648

1,413

In-state tuition

$3,268

$2,900

Out-of-state tuition

$5,836

$9,860

Average net price
What students actually pay after aid

-$126

$9,626

Median debt at graduation

—

$11,750

Graduation rate

48.3%

16.7%

First-year retention

66.3%

60.7%

Median salary (10 yr)

$30,214

$37,174

What the numbers say

Coastal Pines Technical College costs less after aid — -$126 a year versus $9,626, a difference of $9,752 annually, or roughly $39,008 across four years.
East Georgia State College graduates report higher median earnings — $37,174 against $30,214 ten years after entry.
Coastal Pines Technical College graduates a larger share of its students — 48.3% versus 16.7%.
On pure return — salary divided by net price — East Georgia State College comes out ahead at 3.9× versus -239.8×.

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 Coastal Pines Technical College and East Georgia State College run campus visits. Spending an afternoon on each will tell you things no dataset can.