Savannah College
of Art and Design
Private College in Savannah, GA. Six-year graduation rate 69%. Median 10-year earnings $45,954.
Students who entered Savannah College of Art and Design land at a median of $45,954 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is a strength: 69% of students finish within six years. Median debt at graduation is $25,148, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
Savannah College of Art and Design accepts 83% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. The applicant pool is large — 15,956 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. 26% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 16% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 540–660 | 567 (16%) |
| SAT Math | 490–610 | |
| ACT Composite | 21–28 | 428 (12%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Savannah College of Art and Design →Academics
69% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. First-year retention of 86% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. A 17% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The part-time picture is harder: 73% return, against 86% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 14,420 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $50,821 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($44,858 versus $52,147), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Most students get help: 92% receive grants worth $12,570 on average. About 34% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 3,529 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $44,858 |
| $30–48k | $45,198 |
| $48–75k | $48,668 |
| $75–110k | $51,558 |
| $110k+ | $52,147 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 4,940 of these 14,420 students, totalling $30,870,892 — an average of $6,249 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Chatham County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)