10 Community Colleges That Outpaced the Rest

row]column width="1/1"]column_text]A student's investment in higher education can be one of the most important decisions for individuals and families. With so many factors to consider when looking for a college  the task can be daunting. A recent report by Brookings Institution measured colleges by economic payout, which has received much praise within higher education circles.

The rankings in the report measure factors that best predict economic outcomes of students based on data for over 7,000 higher education institutions.

The calculations for these rankings are determined by the value that a college has added to the economic success of the college's alumni. Economic success is determined by alumni earnings, occupational earnings power, and loan repayment rates.

Data for the rankings have been drawn for 4,897 community colleges from government and private sources. For a more in-depth look at ranking factors, click here.

Calculating the Value Added by a College

Image source: Brookings.edu

column_text]separator color="grey"]custom_heading text="Top 10 Community Colleges with Better than Projected Alumni Outcomes" font_container="tag:h2|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Cinzel%3Aregular%2C700%2C900|font_style:900%20bold%20regular%3A900%3Anormal"]separator color="grey" el_width="80"]column_text]column_text]column]row]row css=".vc_custom_1431014878608{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}"]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="NHTI - Concord's Community College" image="485" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Concord, NH" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 100

Occupational Earnings Power: 99

Loan Repayment: 99

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Predicted Earnings

$55,304

Actual Earnings

$68,700

Value Added

22%

School Website: https://www.nhti.educolumn_text]column]row]row]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Lee College" image="498" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Baytown, TX" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 100

Occupational Earnings Power: 77

Loan Repayment: 28

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Predicted Earnings

$55,971

Actual Earnings

$69,000

Value Added

21%

School Website: http://www.lee.edu/column_text]column]row]row css=".vc_custom_1431014938130{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}"]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Pearl River Community College" image="504" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Poplarville, MS" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 99

Occupational Earnings Power: 52

Loan Repayment: 58

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Predicted Earnings

$50,371

Actual Earnings

$62,000

Value Added

21%

School Website: http://www.prcc.edu/column_text]column]row]row]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Pueblo Community College" image="505" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Pueblo, CO" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 99

Occupational Earnings Power: 28

Loan Repayment: 27

column_text]column]column width="1/2"]column_text]

Predicted Earnings

$50,473

Actual Earnings

$61,100

Value Added

19%

School Website: http://www.pueblocc.edu/column_text]column]row]row css=".vc_custom_1431014949736{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}"]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Briarcliffe College" image="507" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Bethpage, NY" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 99

Occupational Earnings Power: 54

Loan Repayment: 40

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Predicted Earnings

$51,201

Actual Earnings

$61,900

Value Added

19%

School Website: http://www.briarcliffe.edu/column_text]column]row]row]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Bakersfield College" image="509" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Bakersfield, CA" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 98

Occupational Earnings Power: 82

Loan Repayment: 5

column_text]column]column width="1/2"]column_text]

Predicted Earnings

$56,957

Actual Earnings

$7,200

Value Added

17%

School Website: https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/column_text]column]row]row css=".vc_custom_1431014959401{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}"]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="TSTC Waco" image="510" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Waco, TX" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 98

Occupational Earnings Power: 96

Loan Repayment: 7

column_text]column]column width="1/2"]column_text]

Predicted Earnings

$55,257

Actual Earnings

$65,000

Value Added

16%

School Website: https://www.waco.tstc.educolumn_text]column]row]row]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="San Diego City College" image="511" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="San Diego, CA" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 98

Occupational Earnings Power: 92

Loan Repayment: 11

column_text]column]column width="1/2"]column_text]

Predicted Earnings

$60,297

Actual Earnings

$70,900

Value Added

16%

School Website: http://www.sdcity.edu/column_text]column]row]row css=".vc_custom_1431014967761{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}"]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Northcentral Technical College" image="512" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Wausau, WI" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 97

Occupational Earnings Power: 89

Loan Repayment: 94

column_text]column]column width="1/2"]column_text]

Predicted Earnings

$50,302

Actual Earnings

$57,800

Value Added

14%

School Website: http://www.ntc.edu/column_text]column]row]row]column width="1/2"]single_image border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" title="Minnesota State Community and Technical College" image="523" alignment="center"]custom_heading text="Fergus Falls, MN" font_container="tag:h6|font_size:18px|text_align:center" google_fonts="font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal"]column_text]

Earnings: 97

Occupational Earnings Power: 74

Loan Repayment: 81

column_text]column]column width="1/2"]column_text]

Predicted Earnings

$52,372

Actual Earnings

$59,900

Value Added

13%

School Website: http://www.ntc.edu/column_text]column]row]row]column width="1/1"]column_text]

Ranking Information

Economic Outcomes

• Alumni mid-career salary
• Occupational earnings power
• Federal student loan default rates

College Quality

• Curriculum value
• Share of graduates prepared to work in STEM fields
• Value of Alumni Skills
• Graduation rate, twice normal length
• Retention or re-enrollment rate
• Institutional aid per student, average
• Average salary of instructional staff
• X-factor

Student characteristics

• Enrollment
• Percent of freshman from same state
• Foreign-born student share of enrollment
• Asian student share of enrollment
• White student share of enrollment
• Average age of students
• Percent attending part time
• Female share of students
• Percent of students receiving no aid
• Percent of students receiving federal loans
• Pell grant aid per student
• Standardized math scores
• ACT and SAT scores on the quantitative sections, standardized to have mean zero and a standard deviation of one, and weighted by number of students taking each exam. For schools with no scores, expected scores were imputed based on student characteristics.
• LinkedIn salary bias

College Characteristics

• Modal degree is one year
• Modal degree is bachelor's
• Modal degree is post-bachelor's
• Online college (all students enrolled only in distance learning)
• Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education
• Percentage distribution of degrees granted by level

College geographic characteristics that determine predicted outcomes

• Local price index 2012
• The cost of living relative to other metropolitan areas.
• State location

Sources: PayScale, LinkedIn and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics (May 2013), U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey; the data were obtained from the University of Minnesota's Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)., O*NET, U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS database, Analysis of data from LinkedIn for alumni skills by college and from Burning Glass for value of skills (for more information, see: "Still Searching: Job Vacancies and STEM Skills"), Bureau of Economic Analysis

All compiled data can be found at Brookings.educolumn_text]column]row]row]column width="1/1"]column_text]Congratulations on making the EDsmart Top 10 list! Feel free to place this badge on your website to show your students your accomplishment.

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<p><strong>Please include attribution to EDsmart.org with this graphic.</strong></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p><a href='https://www.edsmart.org/top-community-colleges-highest-value-added/'><img src='https://www.edsmart.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/top_value_added_colleges1-300x252.png' alt='Top 10 Value-added Community Colleges' width='200px' border='0' /></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>column_text]column]row]