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 Arkansas 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.
Colleges and universities in Arkansas are uniquely affordable, with just under half providing tuition rates of $9,000 or less. Included in this list are the state’s two largest universities, the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University. Though students can find some overlapping degree programs at the two schools, each has its specialties. For example, students hoping to pursue degrees in architecture, agriculture, or business may want to consider the University of Arkansas, while those interested in biology, nursing, or political science may want to attend Arkansas State University.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Additionally, about one third of the schools in Arkansas have a religious affiliation. Student populations at these schools range from just under 200 students up to 5,000, and allow students to pursue degrees merging religious studies with fields like chemistry and history. While tuition at each of the state’s 12 private schools varies greatly, costing anywhere between $9,000 and $46,000, many of these colleges boast high graduation rates and small class sizes.
While Arkansas is perhaps best-known and loved for countless lakes, Hot Springs National Park, and the United States’ only active diamond mine. The Natural State houses many higher education institutes where students can earn associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in a full range of disciplines.
With so many affordable schools and competitive degree programs, students attending school in Arkansas have the luxury of combining their individual budget needs with their desired degree paths. For more information on attending school in Arkansas, check out some of the state’s top schools.
We’ve identified 19 community colleges in Arkansas. In order to be included in this list of the best community colleges, a school needs to satisfy the following three conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
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.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
24%
Student body
2K
University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
19%
Student body
<1K
Southeast Arkansas College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
21%
Student body
1K
South Arkansas Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
30%
Student body
1K
Black River Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
27%
Student body
5K
Northwest Arkansas Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
37%
Student body
1K
University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
41%
Student body
<1K
Cossatot Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
52%
Student body
<1K
University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
43%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1067/21
Southern Arkansas University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
41%
Student body
<1K
Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
20%
Student body
2K
National Park College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
16%
Student body
<1K
Arkansas State University Mid-South’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
35%
Student body
2K
Arkansas State University-Newport’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
27%
Student body
1K
North Arkansas College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
25%
Student body
<1K
East Arkansas Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
39%
Student body
<1K
Arkansas State University–Mountain Home’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
57%
Student body
<1K
Ozarka College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
42%
Student body
2K
Arkansas State University-Beebe’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
38%
Student body
<1K
University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Stay informed! Get the latest Academic Influence news, information, and rankings with our upcoming newsletter.