College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Clayton State University

GAMedium public institution · Overall rank #334 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth places Clayton State University in the 77th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

Clayton State University is a public university in Morrow, Georgia, where the degree mix is led by Health Professions and Business. Access is among the highest we track.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them, and the typical graduate earns below the median at comparable schools. Return is below the levels seen at many peers.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures adds to expected earnings, while the remainder it cannot explain subtracts from them. Pell recipients complete at a rate slightly above the entering cohort as a whole, and mobility is well above average.

The lowest income band pays well below the published cost, while the highest pays closer to it, so the aid structure tilts toward families with less. The admission rate is below the median for comparable institutions.

A student drawn to Health Professions should know that the best-paid program in that family is Nursing, while the largest is Business Administration and Management.

Clayton State University at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
68.4%
Six-year completion[2]
39.9%
Four-year earnings[3]
$54,430

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$9,755
Median student debt[4]
$25,706
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$12,973

Clayton State University rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Clayton State University is a public university in Morrow, Georgia, enrolling 4,348 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the upper quarter of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The university admits 68.5% of applicants, a rate below the 85.9% median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Of students who start full time, 70.9% return for a second year, against a peer median of 73.7%.

The six-year graduation rate is 39.9%, compared with a median of 49.1% for similar schools. An estimated 58.3% of undergraduates arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the graduation rate describes a minority of the student body.

The four show a wide spread. Access is the strongest (90th percentile), and affordability is close behind. Return is the weakest of the four (23rd percentile), with mobility in between.

Clayton State University stands out most for access, with affordability and mobility also stronger than its return picture. Azimuth places the university's access pillar in the 90th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Among nonprofit four-year institutions, affordability is in the 85th percentile and mobility is in the 77th percentile. Azimuth places return in the 23rd percentile, making access the strongest pillar and return the weakest. Strong access and affordability sit beside a more limited return result.

Submitted SAT scores for enrolled students fell in the middle 50% between 860 and 1,078, while the middle 50% of ACT scores stretched from 15 to 19. 52.2% of undergraduates are Pell recipients.

Pell recipients finish at 42.1% within six years, exceeding the overall graduation rate (39.9%) by 2.2 percentage points. Azimuth places Clayton State University at #147 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Azimuth ranks the university #339 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

Clayton State University rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#334

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 77
Access & reach
National percentile: 90
Affordability
National percentile: 85
Return on investment
National percentile: 23

Top-ranked majors

  1. Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology#17
  2. Dental Support Services and Allied Professions#30
  3. Film/Video and Photographic Arts#70

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / Clayton State University briefing

Clayton State University cost & financial aid[6][7]

For aid recipients, Clayton State University has a comparatively low average net price after grants and scholarships. Azimuth places the university's affordability pillar in the 85th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The published cost of attendance is $17,415. Published in-state tuition and fees are $5,180, and room and board are $12,226.

Out-of-state tuition and fees are $16,532. , what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $8,365, with average financial-aid savings of $9,050 against the published cost.

That net price is $5,703 below the $14,068 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size). The lower price and the affordability standing point in the same direction.

For families receiving aid, Clayton State University pairs a published cost of attendance of $17,415 with a wide range of prices across family-income bands. Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $7,405 for the lowest family-income band, $7,032 for the lower-middle band, $9,755 for the middle band, $12,095 for the upper-middle band, and $14,161 for the highest band.

The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $6,756. Azimuth ranks the university #216 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Aid covers about 52% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, an average savings of $9,050. For first-time full-time Title IV aid recipients, the average net price is $8,365, which is $5,703 below the peer median of $14,068 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Published tuition is $5,180 for in-state students and $16,532 for out-of-state students. The lower average price relative to comparable institutions sits alongside a substantial average aid offset.

Among federal-loan borrowers who complete, median federal student loan debt is $25,706, and 82.3% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans. That median is $4,477 above the peer median of $21,229 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $292 a month if repaid over ten years. Median Parent PLUS borrowing among parent borrowers is $12,973.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$9,755

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Clayton State University

Federal loan use is common at Clayton State University, where 82.3% of federal aid recipients borrow through the federal program. That makes debt a central part of the cost picture for many enrolled students.

Among federal-loan borrowers who complete, median federal student loan debt at completion is $25,706. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $21,229, placing Clayton State’s median $4,477 above it.

Parent PLUS borrowers are a separate parent-borrower population, with median borrowing of $12,973.

Earnings at Clayton State University sit below the peer median and the model's expectation, while debt runs above the comparable level. The median for federally aided completers working and not enrolled is $54,430 four years after completion.

That is $2,871 below the $57,301 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Among nonprofit four-year institutions, that figure falls at the 31st percentile.

Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students, an outcome at the 33rd percentile. Scenarios from the program mix run from $39,707 on the downside to $78,690 on the upside, with $54,430 as the typical case.

Completers who borrowed hold a median of $25,706 in federal student debt, corresponding to an estimated payment of $292 a month if repaid over ten years. That is $4,477 above the $21,229 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Earnings sit below the peer median and debt sits above it.

Among parent borrowers, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $12,973. For student borrowers, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $292 a month if repaid over ten years.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$25,706
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$12,973

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$292/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$165/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / Clayton State University briefing

Clayton State University career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $54,430, at the 31st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. That is $2,871 below the $57,301 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth places the return pillar at the 23rd percentile. Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students.

That puts the gap at the 33rd percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $4,081. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $9,853.

Graduate earnings need context beyond the school-wide median. Among federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled, Clayton State University has median earnings of $54,430 four years after completion.

Azimuth puts that median in the 31st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, based on an earnings cohort of 1,411 completers. A typical earnings scenario based on the program mix is $54,430, rather than an observed group result.

An estimated 28.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, offer another lens.

Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students. The median and the model comparison point in the same direction.

Earnings at Clayton State University sit below both the peer median for comparable institutions and the model's expectation for similar students. Four years after completion, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $54,430, placing the university at the 31st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

That median is $2,871 below the $57,301 figure for comparable institutions (same type and size). Azimuth ranks the university #1,125 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students. That places the earnings-beyond-expectations result at the 33rd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $4,081. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $9,853.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $466. The program mix centers on health professions, business and psychology, with 12.8% of degrees awarded in STEM fields.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, run from a downside of $39,707 to an upside of $78,690, with a typical outcome of $54,430. An estimated 28.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

The modeled range is wide enough that school-wide earnings do not describe every field. Program-mix earnings scenarios run from $39,707 on the downside to $78,690 on the upside, rather than tracking observed groups of graduates.

The average net price at Clayton State University is $8,365, which is $5,703 below the peer median of $14,068 at comparable institutions (same type and size). Borrowers who finish carry a median of $25,706 in federal student loans.

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $292 a month if repaid over ten years. The median is $4,477 above the peer median of $21,229.

Parents who borrow hold a separate median of $12,973 in Parent PLUS loans. Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students.

The affordability pillar sits at the 85th percentile, while the return pillar sits at the 23rd percentile.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$4,081
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$9,853
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$5,772

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / Clayton State University briefing

Clayton State University acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Clayton State University admitted 68.5% of applicants in the reported entering-class cycle, so the rate describes a broad admissions outcome rather than an individual prediction. That rate is below the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size).

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range
Admission rate
68.4%
Approximate lower endpoint
860
Reported average
958
Approximate upper endpoint
1078

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Clayton State University briefing

What are the largest majors at Clayton State University?[12]

Business Administration and Management sits at the higher-earning end of the ranked programs. Four years after completion, its median earnings are $58,740 across 130 degrees awarded.

Azimuth ranks it #287 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field. Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology records $42,032 and 110 degrees awarded; Azimuth ranks it #17 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field.

Health Sciences is another more moderate-earning field, at $40,140 with 104 degrees awarded and an Azimuth rank of #75 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field. The ranking and earnings measures point in different directions across these fields.

Clayton State University has 12 ranked bachelor’s fields, and their earnings readings differ considerably. Azimuth ranks Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology #17 nationally within its field among nonprofit four-year institutions; 110 degrees were awarded, with median earnings of $42,032 four years after completion.

Azimuth ranks Dental Support Services and Allied Professions #30 nationally within its field among nonprofit four-year institutions; 28 degrees were awarded and median earnings were $63,402 four years after completion. Film/Video and Photographic Arts is ranked #70 nationally within its field by Azimuth, with 27 degrees awarded and median earnings of $36,510 four years after completion.

The strongest national rank does not coincide with the highest earnings shown among these fields.

The program mix at Clayton State University is concentrated in two professional fields: Health Professions accounts for 28.2% of bachelor's degrees awarded, and Business for 23.2%. Psychology is a distant third at 11.8%.

Across the university, 12 programs carry an Azimuth national rank, and 19 have published four-year earnings data. The largest single program is Business Administration and Management, at 130 degrees awarded, followed by Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology at 110 and Health Sciences at 104.

Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology is the highest-ranked program, with median earnings of $42,032 four years after completion; it ranks #1 in Georgia within its field. Dental Support Services and Allied Professions ranks #30 nationally and #2 in Georgia within its field, with earnings of $63,402.

The highest-earning program is Nursing, at $96,160 from 90 degrees awarded. Computer Science follows at $94,876, though it is a much smaller program with 17 degrees awarded.

The pattern is one of strength in health-related fields: the third-largest program and the highest-earning program both sit in the health professions family. The largest program, Business Administration and Management, is a mid-sized business program with earnings of $58,740 and a national rank of #287 within its field. Across all fields, 12.8% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Business Administration, Management and Operations 130 degrees awarded
$58,740
Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology 110 degrees awarded
$42,032
Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General 104 degrees awarded
$40,140
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 90 degrees awarded
$96,160
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities 82 degrees awarded
$50,110
Biology, General 43 degrees awarded
$57,400

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / Clayton State University briefing

How does Clayton State University serve students from different backgrounds?

The mobility picture is mixed: completion for Pell recipients is stronger than the overall cohort, but modeled earnings fall short of expectations. For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate is 39.9%; Pell recipients complete within six years at 42.1%, above the overall rate by 2.2 percentage points.

Among nonprofit four-year institutions, Azimuth puts Clayton State University's mobility pillar in the 77th percentile. Graduates earn about $5,772 less than the model expects for similar students, placing earnings beyond expectations—the gap between graduate earnings and the model's expectation for similar students—in the 33rd percentile.

Access is Clayton State University’s clearest pillar, combining a 68.5% admission rate with 4,348 undergraduates. Azimuth places its access pillar in the 90th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell Grant recipients account for 52.2% of undergraduates, and the estimated share of entrants outside the first-time, full-time group is 58.3%. These measures show several routes into the university for undergraduates in Morrow.

06 / Clayton State University briefing

What colleges are similar to Clayton State University?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with Clayton State University.

Admissions peerFort Valley State University65.9% admitted
Comparison with Clayton State University
MeasureClayton State UniversityFort Valley State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$54,430$44,844-$9,586 vs Clayton State University
Average annual net price$8,365$10,338+$1,973 vs Clayton State University · higher cost
Admission rate68.4%65.9%
Higher-admission alternativeShorter University96.5% admitted
Comparison with Clayton State University
MeasureClayton State UniversityShorter University
Peer earnings · 4 years$54,430$54,008-$422 vs Clayton State University
Average annual net price$8,365$16,646+$8,281 vs Clayton State University · higher cost
Admission rate68.4%96.5%
Nearby alternativeColumbus State UniversityNearby option · GA
Comparison with Clayton State University
MeasureClayton State UniversityColumbus State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$54,430$60,912+$6,482 vs Clayton State University
Average annual net price$8,365$13,115+$4,750 vs Clayton State University · higher cost
Admission rate68.4%99.1%
Explore Columbus State University →
Higher-earnings alternativeUniversity of Michigan-Flint$65,600 earnings
Comparison with Clayton State University
MeasureClayton State UniversityUniversity of Michigan-Flint
Peer earnings · 4 years$54,430$65,600+$11,170 vs Clayton State University
Average annual net price$8,365$7,007-$1,358 vs Clayton State University · lower cost
Admission rate68.4%70.5%
Explore University of Michigan-Flint →
Lower-cost alternativeIndiana University-Kokomo$3,968 average net price
Comparison with Clayton State University
MeasureClayton State UniversityIndiana University-Kokomo
Peer earnings · 4 years$54,430$54,618+$188 vs Clayton State University
Average annual net price$8,365$3,968-$4,397 vs Clayton State University · lower cost
Admission rate68.4%86.5%
Explore Indiana University-Kokomo →
Similar profileDelaware State UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with Clayton State University
MeasureClayton State UniversityDelaware State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$54,430$56,957+$2,527 vs Clayton State University
Average annual net price$8,365$13,910+$5,545 vs Clayton State University · higher cost
Admission rate68.4%46.6%

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings