ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above on the topic of rising tuition costs first aired on Aug. 25, 2022.
New rankings by personal finance website WalletHub put Minnesota's system of community colleges as fifth-best in the country.
In those rankings, four community colleges across the state were ranked in the nation's top 50: Alexandria Technical & Community College at number 5, St. Cloud Technical & Community College at 17, Northland Community and Technical College in East Grand Forks at 31, and North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park is ranked 48th.
WalletHub compared more than 650 community colleges across America to determine where students can receive the best education possible at the lowest price. Those schools were ranked by looking at 19 key indicators of cost and quality, ranging from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio, per-pupil spending and graduation rate.
Scores in those key indicators factored into the state system rankings, where Minnesota finished behind only New Mexico, Connecticut, Maryland and Oregon.
The research is timely as many families are struggling with budgets being impacted by high inflation. Costs at four-year public institutions can run three or four times as much as those at community colleges, and more and more students are opting to earn a two-year degree at a lower-cost school before transferring to a four-year college to finish their degrees.
WalletHub's research indicates during the 2022 to 2023 academic year, tuition and fees for full-time, in-state enrollment at a public two-year college averaged $3,860 per year versus $10,950 at a public four-year institution, and $39,400 at a four-year private school.
Some states make community college even more accessible than usual, according to WalletHub. Multiple states and numerous cities across the U.S. have started “College Promise” programs that give residents free rides to community college.
For more on individual school rankings and how they were conducted, check out the WalletHub website.
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