Best Community Colleges in Alabama 2024

Badge for BEST IN ALABAMA COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Published: Feb 15, 2021
Updated: Oct 16, 2023

The best community colleges provide an effective springboard into higher education, offering students high-quality two-year degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The top-rated community colleges in Alabama offer a broad selection of associate’s degrees, affordable tuition rates, and strong partnerships with public four-year schools so that students can easily transfer their credits into accredited bachelor’s degree programs.

Marion Military Institute
Bishop State Community College
Wallace State Community College
Jefferson State Community College
Shelton State Community College
Wallace Community College
Lurleen B. Wallace Community College
Coastal Alabama Community College
Lawson State Community College
Wallace Community College Selma

Marion Military Institute 63%

Snead State Community College 21 to 1
Calhoun Community College 20 to 1
Wallace State Community College 19 to 1
Southern Union State Community College 19 to 1
Jefferson State Community College 18 to 1
Bishop State Community College 18 to 1
Enterprise State Community College 17 to 1
Shelton State Community College 17 to 1
Gadsden State Community College 17 to 1
H. Councill Trenholm State Community College 17 to 1

Marion Military Institute $6,000
Snead State Community College $4,000
Gadsden State Community College $4,000
Bevill State Community College $4,000
Jefferson State Community College $3,990
Wallace State Community College $3,750
Calhoun Community College $3,750
J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College $3,750
Wallace Community College $3,750
Wallace Community College Selma $3,750

Wallace Community College Selma
H. Councill Trenholm State Community College
J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College
Northwest–Shoals Community College
Central Alabama Community College
Reid State Technical College
Snead State Community College
Lurleen B. Wallace Community College
Northeast Alabama Community College
Wallace Community College

H. Councill Trenholm State Community College
J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College
Northwest–Shoals Community College
Reid State Technical College
Snead State Community College
Northeast Alabama Community College
Chattahoochee Valley Community College
Central Alabama Community College
Southern Union State Community College
Bevill State Community College

Marion Military Institute 63%

Marion Military Institute 11 to 1
J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College 12 to 1
Bevill State Community College 13 to 1
Wallace Community College 14 to 1
Reid State Technical College 14 to 1
Wallace Community College Selma 15 to 1
Chattahoochee Valley Community College 15 to 1
Coastal Alabama Community College 15 to 1
Central Alabama Community College 16 to 1
Northwest–Shoals Community College 16 to 1

Wallace State Community College $3,750
Calhoun Community College $3,750
J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College $3,750
Wallace Community College $3,750
Wallace Community College Selma $3,750
Enterprise State Community College $3,750
Shelton State Community College $3,750
Central Alabama Community College $3,750
Reid State Technical College $3,750
Northwest–Shoals Community College $3,750

Colleges and Universities in Alabama

Online students and traditional students alike have a lot of options in the state of Alabama. The 54 colleges and universities in Alabama allow students to pursue associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in many fields all over the state, as well as through a variety of excellent online degree programs. Some of the most notable degree areas include law, nursing, biology, history, engineering, and religious studies.

Students in Alabama can study any of these subjects either online or through online courses. If you’re looking for educational flexible education, Alabama has over 20 colleges and universities offering online degree programs.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

Students hoping to obtain a four-year degree at a larger university can attend one of the two largest - as well as rivalry - schools, the University of Alabama and Auburn University. Both schools’ tuition is about $11,000, though the University of Alabama’s student population, at nearly 36,000 students, is larger than Auburn’s.

Students also have the option of attending one of Alabama’s 18 private higher education institutes, many of which have religious affiliations. Tuition costs vary widely, from $4,000 per year to $36,000 per year. Student populations also vary widely, from less than 100 students to as many as 15,000 students.

Additionally, students who need more flexibility can take advantage of the satellite campuses, like at the University of North Alabama. Alabama also has a larger number of online college offerings. With 70 online degree programs offered at the University of Alabama alone, in-state residents have a lot of degree options, both for a traditional and online education.

For die-hard football fans and lovers of sweet tea, obtaining a higher education degree in Alabama can seem like an obvious choice. The Yellowhammer State, however, is also home to a unique mixture of coastal, mountainous, and swamp environments, making it a great choice for students who love soaking up the outdoors.

And if you’re looking for a mix of the campus experience and online education, many schools in Alabama have hybrid programs. With a hybrid program, you can take both online courses and classes on campus.

What are Alabama’s Colleges & Universities?

Alabama’s Best Overall

How do we determine Alabama's best community colleges?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

We’ve identified 23 community colleges in Alabama. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in Alabama.

If you’re interested in an online associate degree, visit our best online associate degrees in Alabama page.