Young Harris College is exactly that kind of name for many families. It is in the mountains of northern Georgia, in Towns County, in a town with the same name as the school. It is not a large college or one that comes up in conversations around the dinner table. But that does not make it any less real or any less deserving of being understood thoroughly. Let us walk through it together, one data point at a time, so that by the time you finish this article, you will know what kind of institution you are looking at.
A campus where students live, not just study
Young Harris College is a private, nonprofit, four-year college classified by the Carnegie system as a baccalaureate arts and sciences institution. Although it also reports offering master's degrees, the school is primarily an undergraduate institution: of the 1,420 students enrolled, 1,403 are undergraduates and only 17 are graduate students. If your child is looking for a clear path from a bachelor's degree to graduate study at the same institution, this data point does not guarantee one. You would need to ask directly.
Here is something worth keeping in mind from the outset: Carnegie classifies this school as "highly residential." That means that, at the time of reporting, at least half of its undergraduate students lived in institution-owned or institution-affiliated housing, and at least 80 out of every 100 studied full time. This is not a minor detail. It means that college life here probably takes place on campus, not around it. It also means something very concrete for your budget: the cost of living there is almost never included with tuition in the brochure they will send you. You need to request it separately, including the meal plan, before comparing this school with any other on your list.
The area surrounding the campus is rural and remote. It is not within a large urban area. If your family does not live nearby, it is worth calculating separately where your child would live, how they would get there, and how often they could travel back and forth. The data only identifies the school's location; it does not know where your family lives or how long it takes to travel between the two places.
And one clarification that is sometimes overlooked: Young Harris College does not have any of three specific designations used in the federal system—it is not a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. Of the 3,012 colleges and universities in this directory, 138 have at least one of those three designations. The fact that this one does not tells you nothing about which students it serves or how your child would feel there. You find that out by asking, not by guessing from an unchecked box.
A small community, with few Latino students and more women than men
Let us look at the numbers describing who is on this campus today.
Of the undergraduate students reported in the fall of 2023, 6 out of every 100 are Hispanic or Latino. It is a small minority, and compared with the 941 selective private schools in this census, the school ranks below the midpoint of the group. I am not going to tell you that this makes the school bad or good—it does neither—but if your child will be one of only a few, it is worth asking during the visit what is available for Latino students: a student organization, a cultural center, someone in the office who speaks Spanish. The number describes the school as a whole; your child's experience in a specific major may look different.
There are also more women than men: 62 out of every 100 undergraduate students are women. And the percentage of students between the ages of 25 and 64 rounds to zero, which means, in practical terms, that almost all are young people who recently finished high school.
In terms of size, with 1,420 students, Young Harris College falls within the midsize range—between 1,000 and 4,999—and is among the most common sizes for its peers. But there is an important nuance here: a substantial portion of enrollment is part time, so the enrollment figure does not tell you how many people are actually on campus at any given time. If scheduling matters to your child, ask directly when courses in the major that interests them are offered. Do not assume a schedule from an enrollment figure.
How the academic year works and how varied the offerings are
The academic calendar follows semesters: two long terms of about 15 weeks. The school accepts credit for AP exams, but it did not indicate that it accepts credit for life experience. Pay attention here, because this is one of the things families often discover late: saying that the school accepts AP credit does not mean you automatically receive credit for every exam. We do not know what scores it requires or how many credits it awards. Request the equivalency evaluation in writing before counting those savings in your budget.
It also enrolls high school students in college courses through a formal dual-enrollment program, if that is something your family is interested in exploring before your child finishes high school.
As for degrees awarded, the school awarded 159 bachelor's degrees during the year, distributed across 17 different academic fields. Business and management awarded the most degrees, accounting for 26 out of every 100, but no other field dominates. The offerings are broad and distributed, not concentrated in a single area. Compared with its 942 selective peers, however, the school falls within the quarter awarding the fewest degrees per year. With numbers this small, the count can change considerably from one year to the next, so if your child is interested in a specific program, request the last three years of data for that exact program, not just a snapshot of one year.
The ratio of students to instructional staff is 11 to 1, a low figure compared with its peers. This sounds good, and it probably is in some sense, but this aggregate ratio alone does not tell you the actual size of first-year classes. It is an institutional number, not a promise about your classroom.
It is also worth mentioning that the institution reports structured opportunities such as study abroad and teacher-certification preparation programs, including state approval for initial teacher certification. If your child is interested in teaching or wants to study abroad for a semester, these are questions you now know you can ask with greater confidence.
Getting in: what matters and what does not
Let us begin with something that brings relief to many families: the undergraduate application fee is $0.
Now, the admissions policy. Young Harris College does not have open admissions; it reviews certain components before saying yes. Of nine possible considerations, it marked three as required: the high school record, the high school GPA, and an English-language proficiency exam for applicants to whom it applies. That last point deserves your attention now, not later: if your child studied outside the United States or attended high school in Spanish, ask today whether that exam applies and what would qualify them for an exemption. This is one of the things families discover late, making everything more complicated.
The list of things that do not count toward the decision is longer than the list of things that do: class rank, the specific college-preparatory curriculum, the personal essay, letters of recommendation, a portfolio or competency exam, work experience, and whether a family member attended the school. The SAT and ACT are not considered in the admissions decision either, even if they are submitted—although this field does not say whether the scores are used for scholarships or placement, so ask about that separately.
With this in mind, let us look at the actual admissions numbers. In the 2023 cycle, the school received 1,926 first-year applications and offered admission to 1,233 applicants. That is 64 out of every 100 applicants admitted—a middle-range rate, neither exclusive nor wide open, and slightly below the midpoint among its selective peers.
But here is the turn that every family should understand before getting excited or discouraged: being admitted is not the same as enrolling. Of every 100 admitted applicants, only 20 ultimately enrolled that fall. Put another way: of every five young people who received a yes, about one ended up attending. The other four had a place and did not take it. Do not read this as a mark against the school—the federal record does not say why each person made the decision they did. What I can tell you is this: what others decided does not predict what the school will offer you. Wait for your own letter with your actual net price. With that number in hand, you can decide whether this school stays on your list.
Regarding transfers: in the fall of 2023, 37 students enrolled here for the first time after previously studying at another institution. The school does not report how many credits it accepted from them, nor does it report a transfer-out rate. That does not mean no one transfers from here; it only means that specific information is unavailable.
The sticker price and what families actually end up paying
At Young Harris College, among 29 first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $11,154. Among 24 students from the same population with EFC family income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $9,309; among 51 students with EFC family income above $110,000, it was $12,588. For dependent students, the band combines their parents' income with their own.
The average for the lowest-income band (29 students) and the average for the highest-income band (51 students) ended up within $1,434 of each other. Among first-year students who received any grant or scholarship aid, the average was $20,509.
Among the 937 schools of the same type and control included in this census that reported this figure with the same time coverage, this school falls within the least expensive quarter for the lowest-income families, after grants and scholarships are subtracted. That does not mean it will be inexpensive for your family. It is a data point that carries weight when you build the list of schools to which you will apply.
The fact that the two outermost bands are so close does not mean your family will pay that amount. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, they use the in-state or in-district rate. The overall average with grant or scholarship aid, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional grants or scholarships. Run the school's net price calculator with your own numbers before relying on this figure.
Financial aid: almost everyone receives something, but the amount varies widely
Here is a figure worth emphasizing: 100% of degree-seeking students at Young Harris College received some form of grant or scholarship aid that does not have to be repaid. All of them. That does not mean everyone received the same amount—within that 100% are people who received a lot and people who received a little—but it does mean that aid is not the exception here; it is the norm.
Among those who received grant or scholarship aid, the average for the year was $33,163. That is real money. But it is not a price, and it is not your offer. When your letter arrives, what matters is how much your family would have to pay out of pocket—that is the number to compare across colleges, not the size of the discount.
Of every 100 students, 38 received a Pell Grant, the federal aid for low-income families.
Now let us talk about loans, because this is where many families become uneasy. In the 2022-23 year, 33 out of every 100 undergraduate students received a federal student loan—more than two out of ten, but fewer than half. Among those who did borrow, the average for the year was $8,155. Compared with its selective peers, this share of students with loans is on the low side: seven out of ten similar schools, or more, had a higher share.
But I want to be clear with you about this, because it is important: that percentage describes other families, not yours. The amount your child would need to borrow comes from their own financial aid letter, not from this average. And that average of $8,155 covers a single year and only federal loans in the student's name—it does not include PLUS loans that parents sometimes take out, bank debt, credit-card debt, or total debt accumulated by graduation. To calculate that, you would have to add up every year, and that number simply is not in this report.
The institution also offers a tuition payment plan with installments, if that works for the way you organize your family budget.
Campus life: housing, sports, and the support services that are reported
Young Harris College has its own housing and does not require all first-time, full-time students to live there—although that does not mean no individual program or group has such a requirement; ask about your child's specific situation. It also offers meal plans, but the number of meals per week varies depending on the plan you choose. The reported maximum housing capacity is 1,040 students. The existence of a room does not guarantee you a bed: request this year's rate, the housing application deadline, and whether you are guaranteed a place or placed on a waiting list, all in writing.
As for ROTC, the school did not indicate any opportunity in its most recent report, while 926 of the 1,786 four-year institutions in this guide did. The fact that it was not marked does not prove that no nearby pathway exists—it only means that none was reported in that specific field. If this matters to your family, ask admissions directly before ruling it out.
The school does compete in intercollegiate sports and is affiliated with the NCAA. The institution reports membership for basketball, baseball, and cross-country or track and field. If your child plays one of these sports and is interested in competing, the next step is to write directly to the coach: ask whether there is a place on the team, which division they compete in, and whether that sport offers athletic scholarships. Get the answers in writing.
The school also offers undergraduate and graduate distance education, although only 4 out of every 100 undergraduate students take all their classes that way—the other 96 take at least one course in person. It reports having at least one complete program that can be finished through distance education, although the data does not confirm exactly at which level; it is worth confirming if this is relevant to your family.
The library operates with paid staff, and its annual expenditures exceeded the $100,000 threshold tracked by the federal government. It has physical and digital collections and participates in interlibrary lending. As for general support, the institution reports combined academic and career counseling, employment services for current students, job placement services for graduates, participation in the Yellow Ribbon program for veterans, a dedicated point of contact for military families, and a published web address for services for students with disabilities.
How many stay, and how many graduate?
We have reached the part that, for many families, is the most important of all: if a student enrolls here, how likely are they to stay and finish?
Of the cohort that entered in the fall of 2022—253 first-time, full-time, bachelor's-degree-seeking students—169 met the official retention criterion the following year. That is 67 out of every 100, about three out of four. Compared with 930 similar schools, this rate falls toward the bottom: seven out of ten of those schools, or more, retained a higher share of their cohort.
I want to pause here for a moment, because it is easy to read a number like this and feel alarmed. Do not do that yet. This rate does not tell you what happened to the other third. We do not know whether they transferred, paused their studies, started working, or had any other reason. The data reports the outcome, not the reasons behind each individual story.
As for graduation: of the 265 first-time, full-time students who entered a bachelor's degree program in 2017, 121 had earned a degree from this school six years later. That is 46 out of every 100—nearly half and half. At four years, the figure was already 42 out of every 100, only 4 points below the final six-year result, which suggests that most of those who graduate here do so relatively on time. Compared with 920 similar schools, however, this graduation rate falls within the bottom quarter: three out of four of those schools, or more, had a higher share of graduates.
There is a third, broader measure worth mentioning: looking at a larger cohort that includes full-time and part-time students who entered between July 2015 and June 2016, as of August 2023—giving them eight years—41 out of every 100 had earned a degree or certificate from this school. Among Pell Grant recipients specifically, the figure was 38 out of every 100, five points below the figure for those who did not receive one. Compared with its 935 peers, this eight-year figure ranks at the very bottom of the table.
Here is something I want you to understand clearly, because the data itself has an oddity that deserves explanation: as of August 2023, 45 out of every 100 members of that eight-year cohort had an "unknown" enrollment status. That does not mean they were not studying elsewhere, and it does not tell us why. It is, literally, information that the system was unable to track. The two figures we do know—those who earned a credential here and the few who remained enrolled without a credential—do not add up to one hundred, and that gap is precisely the "unknown" group.
None of these numbers tells you what will happen to your child in particular. They tell you what happened, collectively, to earlier cohorts. Before deciding, ask what concrete support the school provides to help students finish on time, and ask for more recent outcomes if they are available.
What you already know and what you still need to learn
You now understand one piece of the puzzle in considerable depth: what kind of institution Young Harris College is, how it admits students, how much it costs on paper, how much different families end up paying in practice, and how likely a student is to stay and graduate.
But this piece alone does not decide anything. It is missing what your child wants to study and what they have built so far. It is missing what your family can actually afford—not on average, but within your own budget. If you live far from Georgia, it is missing the conversation about what moving to a rural mountain town would mean. If English is not the primary language spoken at home, it is missing confirmation today of which language-proficiency exam your child would need to take and what would qualify them for an exemption.
Your child's role is to decide whether this appeals to them, put effort into the application, and build the life they want to live there or anywhere else. The school's role is to make an admissions decision, offer aid, and answer your questions honestly. Your role is to gather the money, documents, and deadlines, and sit down with your child to look at all of this without rushing them or leaving them alone.
The numbers in this article are the ground beneath your feet. What you decide to do with them is your path from here.
The information in this article comes from data reported by Young Harris College to the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS system, primarily corresponding to the years 2022-23 and 2023-24. Best College Aid does not represent Young Harris College or any government agency; this article is for informational purposes and is not a substitute for direct verification with the institution's admissions and financial aid office.