A good college education can get expensive, but the latest study on Georgia's best value colleges from SmartAsset—a personal finance technology company—may help you narrow down the options.

SmartAsset analysts studied five key factors across state colleges: tuition, student living costs, scholarships and grant offerings, retention rate and starting salary.

Which Georgia college grants the best bang for your buck? It's Georgia Tech.

With an average starting salary of $62,500, average tuition of $10,650 per year and 96 percent retention rate, the Atlanta college scored 88.05 in the study's value index.

Georgia Institute of Technology was also recognized in College Scorecard's 2015 ranking of the colleges with the best return on investment.

At No. 2 on SmartAsset's state ranking is Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta with an average college tuition of $5,732. Average starting salaries for graduates begin at $52,100.

Where applicable, SmartAsset analysts used in-state tuition to determine yearly tuition.

Tuition: $10,650

Starting salary: $62,500

Tuition: $5,732

Starting salary: $52,100

Tuition: $10,262

Starting salary: $46,600

Tuition: $44,008

Starting salary: $51,300

Tuition: $8,368

Starting salary: $44,500

Tuition: $6,071

Starting salary: $43,900

Tuition: $50,500

Starting salary: $25,468

Tuition: $8,790

Starting salary: $41,100

Tuition: $5,837

Starting salary: $41,800

Tuition: $5,153

Starting salary: $42,000

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