Which Georgia business program has the lowest debt?

College of Coastal Georgia reports the lowest median federal debt, $16,000, with first-year pay of $33,940.

How much do business graduates earn in Georgia?

The median across 12 Georgia business bachelor's programs is $38,937 in the first year after graduating and $52,452 five years after.

How many business bachelor's programs are in Georgia?

12 Georgia programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 12 of them also report federal debt.

Business (Bachelor's) Programs in Georgia, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

12 programs report first-year pay
12 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Business/Commerce, General

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Georgia business bachelor's program pays its graduates $38,937 in their first year, $7,771 less than the national median. University of Georgia reports the highest first-year pay ($60,895), and College of Coastal Georgia the lowest median debt ($16,000).

Median first-year pay$38,937National $46,707

Median pay after 5 years$52,452National $64,119

Median federal debt$24,671National $25,625

Debt-to-earnings63%National 54%

All 12 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	University of GeorgiaAthens · public	$60,895	Not reported	$25,092	41%
2	Augusta UniversityAugusta · public	$60,541	Not reported	$18,531	31%
3	Mercer UniversityMacon · private nonprofit	$52,819	$67,314	$51,452	97%
4	Covenant CollegeLookout Mountain · private nonprofit	$46,628	Not reported	$21,600	46%
5	Brenau UniversityGainesville · private nonprofit	$43,193	Not reported	$44,156	102%
6	Georgia Gwinnett CollegeLawrenceville · public	$39,700	$58,547	$21,750	55%
7	Abraham Baldwin Agricultural CollegeTifton · public	$38,173	Not reported	$24,250	64%
8	Columbus StateColumbus · public	$37,852	$54,271	$31,000	82%
9	Truett McConnell UniversityCleveland · private nonprofit	$35,300	$43,481	$22,250	63%
10	College of Coastal GeorgiaBrunswick · public	$33,940	$51,340	$16,000	47%
11	Clayton StateMorrow · public	$33,735	$52,452	$41,146	122%
12	Life UniversityMarietta · private nonprofit	$29,618	Not reported	$27,416	93%

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 the 12 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

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

$103,730

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $47,440Top 10%: $237,460

Project Management Specialists

$102,140

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $58,290Top 10%: $163,320

Management Analysts

$99,600

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $61,010Top 10%: $172,850

Sales Managers

$159,890

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $79,560Top 10%: $292,490

Common questions

University of Georgia in Athens reports the highest median first-year pay, $60,895. Its median federal debt is $25,092.

Business (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked206 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the business bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024