Is Gordon State College Worth It?

Gordon State College gives you an affordable entry point with a shaky finish. At under $9,000 a year, you're paying far less than most four-year schools, and the median debt load stays low. But a 17% graduation rate and a 48% retention rate mean the bigger financial risk here isn't the price tag. It's leaving with debt and no degree.

Nursing is the clear payoff. It leads every other program by a wide margin and comes with modest debt, so if you can get into and finish the nursing track, the math works strongly in your favor. Almost everything else lags. Biology, teacher education, and history all land near or below the school's overall median earnings, and teacher education carries more debt than nursing while paying less. Health and medical administrative services is the worst combination on the list: the lowest earnings paired with the highest debt, which is a bad trade at any price.

The specific risk here is completion. More than half of you won't return after the first year based on the retention rate, and the graduation rate suggests most who enroll won't finish. Borrowing even a modest amount and dropping out leaves you with payments and no earnings bump to cover them.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families. If your family earns under $48,000, you pay less than the sticker average, while families above $75,000 pay noticeably more. That flips the usual expectation and makes this a better financial fit for lower-income households than higher ones.

This school fits you if you're aiming for nursing, watching your borrowing, and confident you'll finish. If you're drawn to the lower-earning majors or unsure about sticking with college, the odds of a weak return are high enough that you should look elsewhere.