Columbus Technical College vs Georgia Piedmont Technical College

Metric	Columbus Technical College	Georgia Piedmont Technical College
Undergraduate enrollment	2,719	2,198
In-state tuition	$4,052	$3,386
Out-of-state tuition	$7,262	$5,954
Average net price What students actually pay after aid	$4,001	$13,761
Median debt at graduation	$8,756	$12,666
Graduation rate	26.7%	44.1%
First-year retention	52.2%	58.2%
Median salary (10 yr)	$34,238	$34,619

Metric

Columbus Technical College

Georgia Piedmont Technical College

Undergraduate enrollment

2,719

2,198

In-state tuition

$4,052

$3,386

Out-of-state tuition

$7,262

$5,954

Average net price
What students actually pay after aid

$4,001

$13,761

Median debt at graduation

$8,756

$12,666

Graduation rate

26.7%

44.1%

First-year retention

52.2%

58.2%

Median salary (10 yr)

$34,238

$34,619

What the numbers say

Columbus Technical College costs less after aid — $4,001 a year versus $13,761, a difference of $9,760 annually, or roughly $39,040 across four years.
Georgia Piedmont Technical College graduates report higher median earnings — $34,619 against $34,238 ten years after entry.
Georgia Piedmont Technical College graduates a larger share of its students — 44.1% versus 26.7%.
On pure return — salary divided by net price — Columbus Technical College comes out ahead at 8.6× versus 2.5×.

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