PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – From the coast to the mountain ranges in the eastern part of the state, Oregon is filled with some top-notch community colleges.
A report published Tuesday from the personal-finance website WalletHub named 2022’s Best & Worst Community Colleges, and four schools in Oregon made the top-20 list.
Tillamook Bay Community College in Tillamook, Mt Hood Community College in Gresham, Blue Mountain Community College in Hermiston and Clackamas Community College in Oregon City all made the list.
According to CollegeBoard, it costs nearly three times less to attend community college than a public four-year university, making it a more affordable option for education especially as Americans struggle financially due to rising inflation.
To help determine where students can receive the best education at the cheapest rates, WalletHub compared 677 schools from the list of member institutions in the American Association of Community Colleges.
Researchers evaluated the schools on three key dimensions: cost and financing, education outcomes, and career outcomes. They constructed these three dimensions using 19 total metrics with corresponding weighted scores. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale.
A school’s weighted average score across all metrics determined how high on the list it ranked.
Some of the metrics include the cost of in-state tuition and fees, average amount of grant or scholarship aid received, faculty salary, graduation rate, student-faculty ratio, and median salary after attending.
With those factors and many more taken into consideration, the four Oregon community colleges were ranked among the top 20.
WalletHub also ranked the states with the best community college systems and Oregon came in 10th. Washington state, although it did not have any schools on the top 20 community colleges list, was ranked fourth among states with the best community-college systems. More information about the report is available online.
Below is the full list of WalletHub’s Top 20 Community Colleges.
- 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)
- Northwestern Connecticut Community College (CT)
- Manchester Community College (CT)
- Irvine Valley College (CA)
- Kauai Community College (HI)
- Capital Community College (CT)
- Moraine Park Technical College (WI)
- College of San Mateo (CA)
- Fox Valley Technical College (WI)
- Blue Mountain Community College (OR)
- Clackamas Community College (OR)