As part of a new community college ranking from WalletHub, community college faculty are weighing in on questions about the future of higher education and how community colleges will fare.
For the 2022 Best & Worst Community Colleges ranking, WalletHub compared more than 650 community colleges across 19 key indicators of cost and quality. The data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate.
The top 10 community colleges are:
- State Technical College of Missouri (MO)
- Northwest Iowa Community College (IA)
- Alexandria Technical & Community College (MN)
- Manhattan Area Technical College (KS)
- Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NE)
- Mitchell Technical College (SD)
- Montgomery College (MD)
- Tillamook Bay Community College (OR)
- Mt. Hood Community College (OR)
- Naugatuck Valley Community College (CT)
States with the best community college systems include:
- Connecticut
- Maryland
- New Mexico
- Washington
- Hawaii
- Wisconsin
- Minnesota
- Wyoming
- North Dakota
- Oregon
Experts weighed in on questions surrounding free tuition, education and training, and the overall future of community colleges.
Do you think making community college tuition free will increase enrollment and graduation rates?
“A tuition-free community college will likely create an additional level of access for students who would have solely selected the workforce rather than pursuing higher education full-time or while working. Completion has historically been a challenge for many community colleges and is tied to the financial costs of attendance. However, new programs that address financial needs, such as college promise programs, have the potential to spur growth in enrollment and graduation metrics. Similar programs and policies, as part of broader enrollment strategies, can contribute to hikes in enrollment and positive trends in completion rates over time, especially among full-time students.”
Everrett A. Smith, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor; Program Coordinator, School of Education, University of Cincinnati
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