State Tech Ranked the BEST College in the Nation by WalletHub for the second year in a row.

Published on August 19, 2020

State Tech Ranked the BEST College in the Nation by WalletHub for the second year in a row.

With the new fall semester just days away, State Technical College of Missouri is proud to announce that we have been ranked the number one college in the nation by WalletHub (a personal finance website) for the second straight year.

In their recent article titled “2020’s Best & Worst Community Colleges,” WalletHub ranked nearly 700 colleges across the country.  In determining its rankings, WalletHub considered a variety of factors broken down into three main categories. Career Outcomes, Education Outcomes and Cost & Financing were each assigned 33.33 points with subcategories weighed on a 10 point scale and State Tech graded out as the best overall college in the country and on top of that we have the best graduation rate! 

“We constructed the three dimensions using 18 total metrics, each grouped with related metrics in the appropriate category and listed below with its corresponding weight. We graded each metric on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best community college. Finally, we determined each school’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample,” said author Adam McCann.

What I like about the Wallethub rankings are the metrics they use to evaluate colleges.  They measure how many students complete their degrees and the salaries of the jobs they receive.  We rank top five in the country on both of these measures”, said State Tech President Dr. Shawn Strong.

Outside of the WalletHub ranking, State Tech is also ranked 4^th in the nation by Brookings and number 3 in the nation by Forbes Magazine.

“When we received our first number one in the country ranking last year we celebrated.  In the back of my mind I was thinking how are we going to top this?  It is hard to stay on top, we have an incredible team that has kept us number one.  I can’t say enough about the employees that persevered through a difficult spring and are ready for whatever comes our way this fall.” said President Strong.

2020 held a number of firsts for State Tech including record enrollment and best in Missouri graduation rates.  State Tech was one of the first colleges in the country to hold an in-person graduation on May 30^th, which we called “Tailgate Graduation.” The event took place outdoors where graduates were seated in front of a stage 6 feet apart and walked across the stage, picking up their diplomas, while respecting social distancing. Families were able to observe graduation from their vehicles.

Just days before the start of the new academic year, this ranking is a great way to kick things off and backs up why we call ourselves “The Employers’ Choice”.  With a smile on his face, President Strong quipped, “I’m just relieved we don’t have to reprint the billboards and literature that say “#1 in the Nation.”