S.G.A. Government Degree College was established in the year 1987 by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The college has offered two courses namely B.A with H.E.P (History, Economics, Politics) and B.Com (General) from the academic year 1987-88. Two new courses namely B.Sc (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry ) and B.Sc (Botany, Zoology, Chemistry) were started in the Academic Year 1997-98. A restructured course, BSc (Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science), was started in the academic year 2006-07. A new restructured course B.A (History, Economics, Rural Industrialisation) was started from the academic year 2011-12 replacing the conventional B. A (History, Economics, Politics) course.
The college was named after eminent social reformer, educationalist and modern age poet Sri Gurajada Appa Rao. He belongs to a village Sarvariddi Rayavaram, which is 10 kilometres away from Yellamanchili. The college is most accessible and is catering to the educational needs of rural students in the Visakhapatnam district of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. The college is located in Yellamanchili. Yellamanchili is a Municipality and is well connected by road and rail to the port city of Visakhapatnam. The nearest airport is Visakhapatnam.
Yellamanchili has a rich historical background. During the British regime, it was one of the few important taluq headquarters. It had a prominent place during Satavahana's and Gupta's regime. During Samudragupta's period, this area is known as Devarashtra. Venugopalaswamy and Verabhadraswamy temples were constructed by Chalukyan minister in the village kokkirapilli in Yellamanchili mandal. The evidence of existence of Yellamanchili in Stone Age is preserved in the Department of archaeology, Andhra University. Dimili, a nearby village to Yellamanchili is the birth place of modern famous poets Sri Sri and Arudra.
The college is affiliated with Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. It is co-educational and is offering five (05) undergraduate courses, namely B.A (History, Economics, Rural Industrialisation), B.Com, B.Sc (Maths, Physics, Chemistry), BSc (Maths, Physics, Computer Science) and BSc (Botany, Zoology, Chemistry). The total number of students pursuing the five undergraduate courses is 545. All the students are hailing from rural areas. More than 60% of students are female students. 70% of students are SC/ST/OBC students and they hail from economically weaker sections. At present, the college has 22 regular faculty members.
The college has a land area of 6.27 acres. There is a big playground developed by the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh. The college has state of the art gymnasium. It has 11 classrooms and 04 science labs, 01 commerce lab and 01 English language lab. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University Study Centre is located in the campus. The college has a library with 7223 text books, reference books and Journals and e-corner.
The college was accredited with 'A' grade (CGPA-3.03) in Cycle-II accreditation in the year 2015 by NAAC, Bangalore. A new PG programme (M.Com) was started in the academic year 2017-18. The college was sanctioned financial assistance of Rs. Two crores under "Infrastructure component by Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
Another PG program M.Sc (Organic Chemistry) was sanctioned in the Acadamic Year 2022-23.