Columbus State Business (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Business/Commerce, General
- Public university
- Columbus, GA
- About 55 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Columbus State business graduates earn less than graduates of most business programs nationally, $37,852 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $31,000 in federal loans, more than at 85% of business programs in the country. Several Georgia programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Georgia and national columns are the medians across all business bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Columbus State graduates earn less than the national figure but about $1,819 more than the Georgia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Georgia business program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Georgia medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 43% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned more in their first year than other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $329 a month, or 10.4% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
77% of graduates (44 of 57) were working in Georgia one year after graduating. Prices in the Columbus area are about 11% below the national average, so a $37,852 salary here buys what about $42,389 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to business, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
General and Operations Managers
$103,730Median pay in Georgia. 111,060 people work in this job in Georgia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Project Management Specialists
$102,140Median pay in Georgia. 28,900 people work in this job in Georgia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 76,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Management Analysts
$99,600Median pay in Georgia. 38,390 people work in this job in Georgia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 94,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Sales Managers
$159,890Median pay in Georgia. 17,690 people work in this job in Georgia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
About Columbus State
Business ranks 9th of 20 bachelor's programs at Columbus State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($74,454), Computer and Information Science ($56,660), and Management Information Systems ($53,153).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $37,852 one year after graduating and $54,271 five years after. The median across business bachelor's programs in Georgia is $38,937.
The median federal loan balance is $31,000, which ranks 9th lowest of 12 business bachelor's programs in Georgia. That works out to about $329 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 82% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 54%. Compare the cost with other Georgia programs before deciding.
Most do. 77% (44 of 57) were working in Georgia one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Georgia comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the business program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024