College Viability Inspection Report

Savannah College of Art and Design

Georgia · Private, not-for-profit

Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit institution in Georgia, enrolling 14,257 students as of 2024. It graduates 60% of students in four years, returns 86% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $50,821 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 9 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 2 are flagged: Equity Gap and Tuition Allocation. This report benchmarks Savannah College of Art and Design'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.

Savannah College of Art and Design 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

Savannah College of Art and Design — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Savannah College of Art and Design. 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 Rate60.0%+11.1%78th
Six-Year Graduation Rate73.0%+7.3%80th
Full-Time Retention Rate86.0%+14.7%77th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate57.6%+0.7%68th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap14.9pp-24.8%75th
Pell Share of Cohort21.4%-6.4%18th

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.54×+7.0%95th
Total FTE Enrollment14,257+20.0%93rd
Endowment Value$412.0M+137.5%86th
Net Assets (End of Year)$1.50B+77.4%94th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %31.7%-12.8%43rd
Student Support Spending %15.8%+5.8%63rd
Administrative Spending %19.3%-11.0%55th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio2.46×+4.1%42nd
Average Net Price$50,821+11.0%99th
Net Price: $0-30K Income$44,858+9.8%99th
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$45,198+9.2%100th
Net Price: $48-75K Income$48,668+9.1%100th
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$51,558+14.0%99th
Net Price: $110K+ Income$52,147+10.9%97th

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Savannah College of Art and Design's retention rate fell below 80% in 1 of 5 reported years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
Savannah College of Art and Design's 4-year graduation rate stayed at or above 54% in all 5 reported years — above the 50% threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Savannah College of Art and Design's Pell graduation gap exceeded 10 percentage points in 4 of 5 eligible years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Savannah College of Art and Design's ratio stayed at or above 1.0 in all 5 reported years — ending at 1.54× in 2024.
Financial HealthCleared
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
Savannah College of Art and Design's total enrollment grew from 11,878 to 14,257 students between 2020 and 2024 (+20.0%).
Financial HealthCleared
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Savannah College of Art and Design's endowment is $412.0M and grew +137.5% between 2020 and 2024 — clearing both the $50 million size threshold and the 15% growth threshold.
Financial HealthCleared
High Cost, Low Completion
Savannah College of Art and Design costs more than the national median but also graduates students at above-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
Savannah College of Art and Design spends $2.46 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin (2024) — below the national median of $2.75 in 5 of 5 reported years.
Value for MoneyTriggered
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