Georgia Highlands College vs Georgia State University-Perimeter College

Metric	Georgia Highlands College	Georgia State University-Perimeter College
Undergraduate enrollment	4,761	13,693
Acceptance rate Lower means more selective	—	90.8%
Average SAT	—	919
In-state tuition	$3,120	$3,104
Out-of-state tuition	$10,080	$10,064
Average net price What students actually pay after aid	$6,928	$11,453
Median debt at graduation	$12,000	$20,903
Graduation rate	20.7%	22.1%
First-year retention	59.3%	66.4%
Median salary (10 yr)	$43,184	$47,384

Metric

Georgia Highlands College

Georgia State University-Perimeter College

Undergraduate enrollment

4,761

13,693

Acceptance rate
Lower means more selective

—

90.8%

Average SAT

—

919

In-state tuition

$3,120

$3,104

Out-of-state tuition

$10,080

$10,064

Average net price
What students actually pay after aid

$6,928

$11,453

Median debt at graduation

$12,000

$20,903

Graduation rate

20.7%

22.1%

First-year retention

59.3%

66.4%

Median salary (10 yr)

$43,184

$47,384

What the numbers say

Georgia Highlands College costs less after aid — $6,928 a year versus $11,453, a difference of $4,525 annually, or roughly $18,100 across four years.
Georgia State University-Perimeter College graduates report higher median earnings — $47,384 against $43,184 ten years after entry.
Georgia State University-Perimeter College graduates a larger share of its students — 22.1% versus 20.7%.
On pure return — salary divided by net price — Georgia Highlands College comes out ahead at 6.2× versus 4.1×.

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 Georgia Highlands College and Georgia State University-Perimeter College run campus visits. Spending an afternoon on each will tell you things no dataset can.