College Viability Inspection Report

Gordon State College

Georgia · Public

Gordon State College is a public institution in Georgia, enrolling 2,397 students as of 2024. It graduates 5% of students in four years, returns 51% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $7,807 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 9 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 5 are flagged: Retention, Graduation, Revenue to Expenses, Enrollment, and Endowment. This report benchmarks Gordon State College's most recent reported year (2024) against 2,000+ U.S. colleges across three dimensions: student outcomes, financial health, and value for money. All figures are drawn from federal IPEDS filings and are reported without editorial judgment.

Data note: The U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS database did not include every reported figure for Gordon State College between 2020 and 2024. 2 indicators have IPEDS data missing for one or more years 2020–2024 — affected indicators are tagged below; missing years are shown as gaps in trend charts rather than estimated.

Gordon State College Inspection Flags

Student Outcomes
Financial Health
Value for Your Money

Inspection flags are nine independent checks across student outcomes, financial health, and cost-to-value that surface areas of a college's reported numbers worth a closer look. A triggered flag means the college's data met a specific threshold that students and families may want to ask about — for example, graduation rates slipping below a level, or tuition rising while outcomes decline. A clear flag means the threshold was not met. Flags are signals for further conversation, not verdicts.

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College Viability
Data Summary

Gordon State College — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Gordon State College. Values reflect IPEDS-reported figures; percent changes reflect endpoint-to-endpoint 2020 → 2024 comparison; percentiles reflect 2024 national rank against four-year public and private nonprofit institutions. Cells marked "not reported" indicate the indicator was not present in IPEDS for this institution.

Student Outcomes

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Four-Year Graduation Rate5.0%not reported7th
Six-Year Graduation Rate17.0%not reported6th
Full-Time Retention Rate51.0%-1.9%6th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate11.5%-13.5%6th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap8.2pp-54.2%47th
Pell Share of Cohort57.8%-1.1%81st

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio0.96×-3.1%18th
Total FTE Enrollment2,397-12.1%62nd
Endowment Value$4.8M+25.2%13th
Net Assets (End of Year)$12.9M-1.0%19th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %30.9%+8.4%39th
Student Support Spending %6.5%-2.1%20th
Administrative Spending %8.8%-30.9%12th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio4.27×+54.1%81st
Average Net Price$7,807-15.8%7th
Net Price: $0-30K Income$6,912-12.3%14th
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$6,817-22.8%12th
Net Price: $48-75K Income$9,435-17.4%13th
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$12,326-5.2%12th
Net Price: $110K+ Income$12,615-8.5%6th

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Gordon State College's retention rate fell below 80% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
Gordon State College's 4-year graduation rate fell below 50% in 4 of 4 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Gordon State College's Pell graduation gap exceeded 10pp in 1 of 3 eligible years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Gordon State College's revenue-to-expense ratio fell below 1.0 in 4 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold. 2024: 0.96×.
Financial HealthTriggered
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
Gordon State College's total enrollment fell from 2,727 to 2,397 students between 2020 and 2024 (-12.1%) — a decline of 5% or more.
Financial HealthTriggered
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Gordon State College's endowment is $4.8M, under the $50 million threshold. A smaller endowment leaves less cushion for scholarships and for tough budget years, even though it grew +25.2% over the period.
Financial HealthTriggered
High Cost, Low Completion
Gordon State College costs less than the national median AND graduates students at below-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
Gordon State College's ratio fell below the national median of $2.75 in 2 of 5 reported years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Value for MoneyCleared
Rising Price, Falling Outcomes
Either net price did not rise or the graduation rate did not decline between 2020 and 2024 — flag not triggered.
Value for MoneyCleared