Best Community Colleges in South Carolina 2024

Badge for BEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Published: May 4, 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 South Carolina 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.

10 Best Community Colleges in South Carolina

University of South Carolina Sumter
University of South Carolina Lancaster
Trident Technical College
University of South Carolina Union
Technical College of the Lowcountry
Spartanburg Methodist College
Tri-County Technical College
Spartanburg Community College
Florence–Darlington Technical College
York Technical College

Tri-County Technical College
Spartanburg Methodist College
Trident Technical College
Midlands Technical College
Greenville Technical College
University of South Carolina Sumter
Technical College of the Lowcountry
York Technical College
Spartanburg Community College
University of South Carolina Lancaster

Spartanburg Methodist College 82%
University of South Carolina Union 80%
University of South Carolina Lancaster 76%
University of South Carolina Sumter 72%
University of South Carolina Salkehatchie 71%

Horry-Georgetown Technical College 23 to 1
Trident Technical College 20 to 1
York Technical College 19 to 1
Tri-County Technical College 19 to 1
Spartanburg Community College 18 to 1
Spartanburg Methodist College 18 to 1
Greenville Technical College 17 to 1
Florence–Darlington Technical College 17 to 1
Midlands Technical College 17 to 1
University of South Carolina Lancaster 16 to 1

Spartanburg Methodist College $19,350
University of South Carolina Union $7,158
University of South Carolina Salkehatchie $7,158
University of South Carolina Lancaster $7,158
University of South Carolina Sumter $7,158
Spartanburg Community College $5,880
Orangeburg–Calhoun Technical College $5,784
Tri-County Technical College $5,744
Technical College of the Lowcountry $5,736
Midlands Technical College $5,640

Orangeburg–Calhoun Technical College
Northeastern Technical College
University of South Carolina Salkehatchie
Piedmont Technical College
Horry-Georgetown Technical College
Greenville Technical College
Denmark Technical College
Aiken Technical College
Midlands Technical College
York Technical College

Northeastern Technical College
Aiken Technical College
Orangeburg–Calhoun Technical College
Piedmont Technical College
University of South Carolina Salkehatchie
Horry-Georgetown Technical College
University of South Carolina Union
Denmark Technical College
Florence–Darlington Technical College
University of South Carolina Lancaster

University of South Carolina Salkehatchie 71%
University of South Carolina Sumter 72%
University of South Carolina Lancaster 76%
University of South Carolina Union 80%
Spartanburg Methodist College 82%

Piedmont Technical College 11 to 1
Technical College of the Lowcountry 12 to 1
Northeastern Technical College 13 to 1
Orangeburg–Calhoun Technical College 13 to 1
Denmark Technical College 14 to 1
University of South Carolina Salkehatchie 14 to 1
Aiken Technical College 14 to 1
University of South Carolina Union 15 to 1
University of South Carolina Lancaster 16 to 1
University of South Carolina Sumter 16 to 1

Florence–Darlington Technical College $4,704
York Technical College $4,776
Aiken Technical College $4,896
Trident Technical College $5,024
Piedmont Technical College $5,070
Northeastern Technical College $5,088
Horry-Georgetown Technical College $5,088
Greenville Technical College $5,520
Denmark Technical College $5,626
Midlands Technical College $5,640

Colleges and Universities in South Carolina

The 31 public schools range in tuition from $5,000 to $17,000. The largest institution, the University of South Carolina (U of SC), is right in the middle, totaling $11,000 for fees. Located in Columbia, U of SC has over 30,000 students in attendance and offers over 300 degree options. Aside from the technical and community colleges in the state, there are four universities under $10,000. At $17,000, the Medical University of South Carolina is the most expensive public school in the state.

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In addition, over 25 private schools, 17 with religious affiliations, offer academic settings with small student populations, none exceeding 3,500. Though it is the most expensive at $50,000, Furman University boasts an 84% graduation rate. With Methodist connections, Wofford College charges a tuition of $44,000, and it bears noting that the campus is situated on a national arboretum. The University of South Carolina School of Law is one of the nation’s oldest law schools and the state’s only nonprofit law school. Graduates of the school have the opportunity to receive financial assistance from the Public Interest Law Loan Forgiveness Fund if they are employed in the field of public interest law.

Along the 60-mile stretch of beaches in South Carolina is iconic Myrtle Beach, home to one of the world’s tallest Ferris wheels. Cypress swamps, military museums, and tea gardens add to the southern charm of this state. And with over 50 higher education institutions, students have plenty of options for where to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.

Check out the top programs available, and earn your degree in The Palmetto State.

What are South Carolina’s Colleges & Universities?

South Carolina’s Best Overall

How do we determine South Carolina'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 19 community colleges in South Carolina. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in South Carolina.