There are many post-secondary schools in the northwest Georgia area, particularly in and immediately around Atlanta. We'll look at the traditional colleges that offer a variety of areas of study and, courtesy of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), compare them through criteria such as highest graduation rate, lowest net price, largest student population and proximity to the area.
Northwest Georgia Schools Near Large Cities
There are a number of benefits to going to a school in an urban area. These include, but are not limited to, more networking opportunities, internships and extracurricular activities. Here are five schools that are the closest to the Northwest Georgia area.
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
- Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA)
- Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA)
- Spelman College (Atlanta, GA)
- Shorter University (Rome, GA)
Largest Schools in Northwest Georgia
For many, they find that schools with larger student populations provide greater opportunities for meeting new people, extracurricular activities and extracurricular project funding. If this is important to you, here are the five largest post-secondary schools in the Northwest Georgia according to 2021 NCES reports.
- Kennesaw State University (42,899 enrolled students)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (43,859 enrolled students)
- Georgia Northwestern Technical College (6,326 enrolled students)
- Dalton State College (4,525 enrolled students)
- Berry College (2,303 enrolled students)
Lowest Net Price
The NCES tracks statistics for schools that include a net price, which takes into account the total cost of full-time attendance for full-time undergraduate students (tuition, room, board, books and fees) but then subtracts the average financial aid awarded by the school. The following colleges were the most affordable of the compared schools based on the net price figures for 2020-2021.
- Chattahoochee Technical College ($4,049)
- Georgia Northwestern Technical College ($4,223)
- Georgia Highlands College ($6,823)
- Dalton State College ($5,760)
- Oglethorpe University ($14,929)
Highest Graduation Rate
A third basis of comparison when researching colleges can be the school's rate of success in terms graduation rate. To determine graduation rates, the NCES looks at the percentage of students who graduate within 150% of the time normally needed for their degree. The schools in Northwest Georgia with the best graduation in 2021 are:
- Georgia Institute of Technology (92% graduation rate)
- Spelman College (76% graduation rate)
- Covenant College (73% graduation rate)
- Berry College (72% graduation rate)
- Oglethorpe University (58% graduation rate)
If you are looking for a college or university in Northwest Georgia, use this material to make an informed decisions based on the schools' location, size, net price and graduation rate.
