Sheldon, Iowa — Northwest Iowa Community College continues to receive high marks from those who rate institutions of higher learning. A recent study has ranked NCC as the fourth-best community college in the country.
According to wallethub.com Financial Writer Adam McCann, community colleges offer students the ability to get higher education without having as much financial strain. He says last year the average tuition and fees for full-time in-state enrollment at a public two-year college averaged $3730 per year, while it cost on average, $10,440 at a public four-year institution and $36,880 at a four-year private school.
While the study ranks Northwest Iowa Community College number four on the list, the only other schools in the top 30 in a 200-mile radius of Sheldon were Alexandria Technical and Community College in Alexandria, Minnesota, and Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell, SD.
Wallethub says they evaluated the schools based on three key dimensions, including Cost & Financing, Education Outcomes, and Career Outcomes — each weighted equally, with 33.33 possible points per category.
The number one school, State Technical College of Missouri received 74.5 points out of a possible 100. NCC received 68.27 points. While NCC didn’t rank the highest in the categories of “Cost and Financing” and “Education Outcomes,” what really boosted their score was their “Career Outcomes” Rank. NCC was rated number two in the nation in that category, behind only Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. But the Nebraska school rated much lower on the other ranks, kicking it out of the top 30.
The second-ranked IOWA school was Iowa Lakes Community College, which ranked 115th nationally, and North Iowa Area Community College, which ranked 127th nationally, was third in Iowa.
