North Carolina community colleges drop in national rankings

North Carolina’s community college system, one of the largest in the country, dropped 24 places on WalletHub’s annual ranking of community colleges from the past year.

WalletHub, a personal finance website, released the rankings last week and based their methodology around three categories: cost and financing, education outcomes and career outcomes.

Chreatha Alston, director of engagement services for the N.C. Community College System, expressed skepticism over the site’s findings.

“We were surprised to see our own system ranked 35th,” she said.

Alston said WalletHub’s methodology differs from that used by the North Carolina system, and it might not holistically reflect North Carolina’s community colleges.

“For instance, only 12 out of 58 of our community colleges participate in the student loan program, and the data used in WalletHub’s analysis around this measure could make our colleges appear to have a higher default rate because of the percentage of colleges participating,” said Alston.

Jill Gonzalez, analyst for WalletHub, said in an email she disagrees, as loans can be taken out at the state and federal level as well.

“So almost every college in the country has some sort of student loan default rate,” she said.

One highlight in the ranking for North Carolina was Pamlico Community College in Grantsboro individually ranking third in the nation. Only four other N.C. community colleges were in the top 100, and none besides Pamlico in the top 50. North Carolina’s largest community college, Wake Technical Community College, was ranked 647th.

George Leef, director of research for the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, said in an email college rankings in general are of questionable value as indicators of educational quality.

“Colleges are not homogenous; some programs may be superb while others in the same school are poor,” he said. “It’s misleading to say that a college is good or bad when it has many components.”

Gonzalez said the breadth of methodology made this ranking valid.

“We looked at a number of other variables from the cost of tuition to overall graduation rates and education return on investment,” she said.

Alston said the system acknowledges it continually strives for improvement, and she and her colleagues are pleased with the value that North Carolina’s community colleges bring to the state and its residents.

“We’re grateful for the support our system receives from both state and local governments,” said Alston. “For every dollar spent, the return on investment for North Carolina taxpayers is $4.10, and during the last 10 years or so, 40 percent of North Carolina’s workforce has attended one of our 58 colleges.”

state@dailytarheel.com