(August 30, 2013)

EPHRAIM, UT - Results were released early Monday morning by the Washington Monthly proclaiming America’s Best Community Colleges for 2013. Snow College, set to accept its third national ranking, joined the ranks at #9 alongside Minnesota’s Saint Paul College, North Florida Community College, and Missouri State University. Only fifty schools out of 1200 community colleges nationally, met the rigorous evaluation requirements to be included.

Today, community colleges remain a pillar of the American system of higher learning, with more than a million new freshmen starting their college careers at a two-year institution. However According to Washington Monthly “America’s best community colleges aren’t just a little better than other community colleges in the country. When it comes to providing a high-quality educational experience and helping students graduate, they’re much better.”

Results were based on eight areas including the active and collaborative learning environment, academic challenge, student faculty interactions, support systems for learning, and first year retention rates. “Good community colleges give students the opportunity to work directly with professors and teachers,” states Kevin Carey with Washington Monthly.

Heavy emphasis was placed on the ability of institutions to keep students on track for graduation. Snow College received significant marks for its 74% of students graduating within three years and/or transferring. Snow College was also recently rated #6 by CNN Money, and #8 by BestSchools.org. Combining all national rankings received, Snow College could now be considered in the top 1% of the best community and junior colleges within the United States.

Admissions Director of Snow College, Brandon Wright explains, “We are excited about the opportunity to be acknowledged for our academic successes. We have great faculty, staff, and administration that really make it a point to stand out of the crowd and provide opportunities students may not otherwise get.”