SUNY Plattsburgh, Clinton Community College Make Washington Monthly Rankings

SUNY Plattsburgh, Providing “Bang for the Buck” 

According to a Washington Monthly article by Robert Kelchen, the publication set out to find the American colleges that “do the best job of helping nonwealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.”

Using data from a variety of sources including the U.S. Department of Education, Washington Monthly looked at the percentage of students receiving the Pell Grant, the school’s graduation rate, the expected graduation rate given the number of lower-income students, and loan default rates.

“It is a pretty exclusive list; out of the 1,572 colleges and universities in our broader rankings, only 349 made the cut as best-bang-for-the-buck schools,” Kelchen wrote.

“We know the difficulty students currently face, when it comes to affording tuition,” SUNY Plattsburgh President John Ettling said. “Because of this, we are more dedicated than ever to providing students with a top-notch education at an affordable price. Rankings like these are signs that we are headed in the right direction.”

This is the second time in as many months that SUNY Plattsburgh has made affordability rankings. Earlier this summer, it was named to Affordable Colleges Online’s High Return on Investment Colleges list.

AC Online used data from government, nonprofit and industry sources to determine that the average return on investment for a SUNY Plattsburgh degree was around $425,000.

Clinton Ranked Among the Best Community Colleges

“We are proud to be ranked as one of the nation’s top community colleges. We are especially proud that we earned this ranking as a result of our outstanding academic program,” President John E. Jablonski said. “Our high graduation and transfer rates, our strong faculty-student interaction and our academic rigor have put Clinton on the national map.”

Washington Monthly based its community college rankings on two sources of information: the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and U.S. Department of Education measures of student retention and completion.

“More than 700 community colleges participated in CCSSE in the cohort. I give kudos to the publication for disclosing its methodology right up front. So many rankings give you little indication of where they derived their numbers,” said Victoria Duley, associate dean of institutional research and planning at Clinton.

“The survey results speak to the good work being done at Clinton Community College as well as the quality of education being provided,” Jablonski said.

He pointed out that Clinton continues to work to support the community by providing students the opportunity to complete an associate degree in a number of fields, including health care, technology, computer information, business and criminal justice. It also continues to develop transfer pathways in liberal arts and sciences for students looking to move on to a four-year degree.

“Our faculty provide a dynamic learning environment that challenges students. This ranking is the result of their efforts,” Jablonski said.

"As we all recognize the growing importance of colleges and universities to economic development, such high placement by both Clinton Community College and SUNY Plattsburgh is great news, indeed," said Garry Douglas, president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce. "It confirms the excellence and attractiveness of both schools, and the strong role they are already playing and will increasingly play in our economic development ambitions. It also links back to fDi (Foreign Direct Investment) Magazine's identification of Plattsburgh this year as the No. 4 Micro City of the Future for Economic Potential in all of North and South America, a ranking which included top 10 recognition of our colleges and human resources. Congratulations to both of these outstanding partners, and onward and upward."

For more information, contact the CCC Admissions office at 518-562-4170 or SUNY Plattsburgh at 518-564-3095.