Students Tyler Dockery and Dania Gaines walk to class at Dalton State College in this file photo.LOW-DEBT COLLEGES, 2011• Augusta State University, Georgia• Berea College, Kentucky• California State University-Bakersfield• California State University-Sacramento• Clarion University of Pennsylvania• College of Saint Elizabeth, New Jersey• College of the Ozarks, Missouri• CUNY Hunter College, New York• CUNY York College, New York• Dalton State College, Georgia• Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina• Ferrum College, Virginia• Lane College, Tennessee• Mount Carmel College of Nursing, Ohio• Pomona College, California• Princeton University, New Jersey• University of Houston-Clear Lake, Texas• University of Maine at Fort Kent, Maine• Williams College, Massachusetts• Yale University, ConnecticutSource: The Project on Student Debt
What do Yale University, the College of the Ozarks and Dalton State College have in common?
Students at these institutions graduate with some of the lowest debt in the nation, according to a new report from the Project on Student Debt. The project is an initiative of the Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit research and policy organization that studies college affordability and availability.
The average debt for a Dalton State graduate is $6,811, compared with an average of $22,443 for Georgia’s higher education students, according to the project. A semester’s tuition and fees are $1,866 for in-state students at Dalton State and $5,700 for out-of-state students, according to the college’s website.
Dalton State hopes to capitalize on its affordability rankings, officials said.