Which Hudson Valley Community Colleges Are Ranked Best and Worst?

What's the best community college in the Hudson Valley? We've compiled the data to come up with the official rankings.

WalletHub just released their list of the best and worst community colleges in the country. The rankings are based on cost, education outcomes and career outcomes. Out of the 821 community colleges across the country, the schools located in the Mid Hudson Valley all rank in the bottom half.

The lowest performing school was Ulster County Community College which is ranked 615 out of 821. According to the the survey UCCC ranked the lowest (570 out of 821) in career outcomes which measures the average salary earned after graduation against the cost of tuition. It also takes the default rate of student loans into consideration. Ulster ranked 456 in educational outcomes, which measures retention and graduation rates as well as student to faculty ratios. But when it comes to cost and financing Ulster performed much better ranking 375.

Orange County Community College was the top performer in the Mid Hudson region, but still in the bottom half of the country at number 421. OCC got it's highest marks for cost and financing, coming in at an impressive rank of 177 in the nation. Lower scores in education and career outcomes brought the total ranking down, however.

Dutchess Community College was ranked 519 in the survey of 821 schools. However, in the category of education outcome the school had a very low ranking of 604. Retention and graduation rates, in addition to degrees and certificates earned by students are all taken into consideration when determining this ranking. It's not clear why Dutchess scored so low in this area, but high rates of students transferring out could also be a factor.

The state of New York was ranked at 19 overall when it comes to the quality of its community colleges. The Helene Fuld College of Nursing in New York City was named the the best community college in the entire country, making it one of two schools in the state to crack the top 20, the other being the Fashion Institute of Technology.

In the Lower Hudson Valley, Rockland Community College ranked in the top half of the country, coming in at 376. South Dakota was listed as the state with the best community college system, with Pennsylvania coming in last.

You can read the full results for every community college and check out each state's individual standings at WalletHub.com