Best Community Colleges in Texas 2023

Published: Mar 15, 2021
Updated: Mar 13, 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 Texas 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 Texas

Lone Star College System

31%

27%

25%

25%

25%

25%

25%

24%

24%

24%

36 to 1

25 to 1

24 to 1

23 to 1

23 to 1

22 to 1

El Paso Community College

22 to 1

Lone Star College System

21 to 1

Odessa College

21 to 1

Western Texas College

20 to 1

San Antonio College

$6,450

Weatherford College

$5,100

Lone Star College System

$4,800

McLennan Community College

$3,720

Ranger College

$3,600

Central Texas College

$3,570

Blinn College

$3,510

Tarrant County College

$3,402

Angelina College

$3,300

San Jacinto College

$3,240

Western Texas College

18%

Austin Community College District

19%

Ranger College

19%

Weatherford College

20%

El Paso Community College

20%

Victoria College

21%

North Central Texas College

21%

Wharton County Junior College

21%

Temple College

21%

Paris Junior College

21%

Alvin Community College

12 to 1

Angelina College

14 to 1

Central Texas College

14 to 1

Victoria College

14 to 1

McLennan Community College

14 to 1

14 to 1

14 to 1

15 to 1

16 to 1

College of the Mainland

16 to 1

Wharton County Junior College

$768

$1,128

$1,620

$1,848

$2,010

Austin Community College District

$2,010

Del Mar College

$2,070

Alvin Community College

$2,256

Victoria College

$2,520

College of the Mainland

$2,550

Key Takeaways

Texas has an amazing lineup of community colleges. Many students in this state prefer to study on this path to achieve their desired careers. The community college system of Texas currently serves more than 720,000 students.
Not everyone knows how great community colleges are when transitioning from college to work. Students can earn their short-term educational certificate or associate degree in just two years.
Texas has partnered with different companies and businesses to provide students an instant route toward professional jobs (entry-level).

Community Colleges: Producing The Most Educated and Skilled Texans

In Texas, community colleges offer two-year associate degrees in high-demand areas like education and training, business administration, science and technology, and healthcare.

Texas also offers unique educational initiatives like development education, adult education and literacy programs, dual credit, and other short-term programs and guided pathways, all leading to entry-level professional jobs.

Because Texas has so many four-year colleges and universities, why do many students still prefer to attend a community college? What advantages and benefits do students get from enrolling in a two-year degree program?

The Benefits of Attending a Community College

Two-year community colleges provide an efficient alternative to conventional four-year colleges and universities. Many community colleges provide flexibility regarding the content and structure of the course schedule.

This is a great advantage for non-traditional students working in full or part-time positions and traditional enrollees seeking post-secondary education. Consider the benefits of enrolling in a community college to assess if this is the right educational path for you.

Cost of Tuition: Community colleges have lower tuition costs than traditional four-year colleges or universities. A lot of these types of colleges have reduced rates for in-state students, which results in a more affordable post-secondary education program. Some community colleges also offer reduced-cost certification programs compared to two-year and four-year degree programs.

Great Financial Aid Options: Aside from the low tuition costs, community colleges have financial aid incentives for eligible students who need help paying for their college tuition. Some aid also covers the cost of materials and even housing and transportation. Students can apply, too, for student loan programs, special grant programs, and academic transfer programs that usually come with lower interest rates than the usual student loans.

Greater Flexibility: When you attend a community college, you can explore higher education at your own pace. This is specifically true for those who are not yet sure what they want to major in or those who believe college is not even an affordable choice for them.

Many junior colleges also offer part-time academic coursework to allow students to attend their college classes a few days each week while still working a full-time or part-time job.

The flexibility offered at a community college also provides a better school-life balance. Students get the chance to build their schedules around their personal lives, resulting in a healthier life balance.

Trade and Vocational Focus: Most, if not all, community colleges offer vocational training programs on top of their associate degree programs. Students who want to pursue trades in health care, technology, engineering, and other vocations, can enroll in specifically designed courses that prepare them for a career.

Most of these vocational courses include programs where they can earn professional certifications in a shorter time than the established four-year degrees.

STEM Education Opportunities

Community colleges offer STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) associate degree programs that will lead to careers in-demand by many employers. With a solid ground on STEM subjects, you can solve problems, conduct research, or develop new ideas seamlessly.

Earning a two-year associate degree will help you get started quickly in your STEM-related career. Many junior colleges partner with local businesses and industries to promote job placement with your new degree. This makes it easier for you to secure a job after completing your associate’s degree program.

Ability to Transfer Credits

While community colleges do not offer four-year degree programs, they have admissions agreements with state and public colleges that allow students to transfer their credits if they want to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

Provided that the students meet the school’s requirements, they can transfer to a university or college of their choice to complete their bachelor’s program after they earn their two-year associate’s degree at a community college.

Colleges and Universities in Texas

Texas offers more than 30 colleges and universities that serve communities of 10,000 students or more. The largest school in the bunch (and in the nation), Texas A&M University in College Station serves more than 65,000 students. The University of Texas at Austin is the next largest, serving about 45,000 students - but it too has a big claim to fame, as the wealthiest public university in the United States. Texas’s private colleges and universities, including Baylor University and Southern Methodist University, are also impressive in size and scope. The majority of these schools have religious affiliations and offer degrees in a variety fields, such as nursing, religious studies, criminal justice, business, and education.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

For students who prefer a more intimate educational environment, Texas offers a long list of smaller public and private colleges and universities, such as Abilene Christian University and University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Additionally, Texas has generous loan forgiveness programs for qualifying nurses, physicians, teachers, legal aid attorneys, and lawyers who work in the Texas Attorney General’s office.

Texas is known for doing things big. Big cities, big open spaces and, of course, big fun. Whether you’re hitting up the live music scene in Austin, catching a Cowboys game in Dallas, or strolling down the River Walk in San Antonio, you’re sure to have a good time. And, with more than 150 higher education institutes, it’s safe to say The Lone Star State is big on education too.

If you’re looking to earn your degree in the state of Texas, you’ll have plenty of higher learning institutes to choose from.

What are Texas’s Colleges & Universities?

Texas’s Best Overall

How do we determine Texas'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 53 community colleges in Texas. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in Texas.