A map of the country showing Cloud County as number one.

Cloud County Community College has been named the best community college in the country by SmartAsset, a financial technology company.

A map of the country showing Cloud County as number one.

Cloud County Community College has been named the best community college in the country by SmartAsset, a financial technology company.

 

According to SmartAsset, Cloud County offers more than 335 courses every semester and has the highest graduation and transfer rate of any college in their sixth annual study of the best community colleges in the country. According to SmartAsset’s data, 89 percent of Cloud students either graduate or transfer to a four-year institution. By comparison, the average graduation and transfer rate across all 796 community colleges is 43 percent.

 

Tuition at Cloud for in-state students completing two semesters is $3,180, which ranks 248th out of all 796 colleges. Last year, Cloud was ranked number 16 in SmartAsset’s study.

 

In order to create its rankings of the best community colleges in America, SmartAsset considered data on 796 community colleges, comparing the schools across three metrics:

 

Student-to-faculty ratio – the number of students for every faculty member. Cloud’s student-to-faculty ratio is 11 to one.

 

Graduation and transfer rate – the percentage of students who either graduate or transfer to a four-year institution. Data comes from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and is for the 2017-2018 school year.

 

Cost of tuition and fees – the cost for in-state students completing two semesters of coursework. Data also comes from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and is for the 2017-2018 school year.