Best Community Colleges in Washington 2023

Published: May 5, 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 Washington 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 Washington

Bellevue College

23%

Columbia Basin College

20%

Seattle Central College

18%

Highline College

18%

Olympic College

17%

Spokane Falls Community College

17%

Wenatchee Valley College

17%

Peninsula College

17%

Spokane Community College

17%

Everett Community College

17%

Charter College

25 to 1

Yakima Valley College

19 to 1

Olympic College

18 to 1

Spokane Community College

18 to 1

Clover Park Technical College

17 to 1

North Seattle College

17 to 1

South Seattle College

17 to 1

Tacoma Community College

17 to 1

Columbia Basin College

17 to 1

Bellingham Technical College

16 to 1

Charter College

$17,289

Clover Park Technical College

$5,740

Columbia Basin College

$5,319

Bates Technical College

$5,071

Walla Walla Community College

$4,850

South Seattle College

$4,831

North Seattle College

$4,799

Seattle Central College

$4,670

Whatcom Community College

$4,523

Tacoma Community College

$4,486

Renton Technical College

12%

Bellingham Technical College

12%

Northwest Indian College

13%

Grays Harbor College

13%

Whatcom Community College

13%

Yakima Valley College

14%

Lake Washington Institute of Technology

14%

South Seattle College

14%

Green River College

14%

Walla Walla Community College

14%

Renton Technical College

9 to 1

Northwest Indian College

10 to 1

Green River College

11 to 1

Peninsula College

12 to 1

Lake Washington Institute of Technology

12 to 1

Whatcom Community College

12 to 1

Clark College

12 to 1

South Puget Sound Community College

13 to 1

Wenatchee Valley College

13 to 1

Big Bend Community College

13 to 1

Bellingham Technical College

$2,832

Spokane Community College

$3,029

Spokane Falls Community College

$3,029

Lake Washington Institute of Technology

$3,029

Highline College

$3,445

Wenatchee Valley College

$3,768

Renton Technical College

$3,781

Shoreline Community College

$3,792

Everett Community College

$3,807

Lower Columbia College

$3,817

Key Takeaways

The best community colleges in Washington are the result of decades of commitment to world-class higher education. From the beginning of their establishment, these institutions were dedicated to human development through education.
Choosing the best community colleges in Washington primarily involved the determination of overall influence and impact made by their faculty members on academia, industry, and society. Algorithms were considered but qualitative factors were also taken into account in the selection.
The best community and technical colleges in Washington put college education where and when its citizens and residents want it through affordable tuition, excellent distance education programs, and student support services.

Colleges and Universities in Washington

Of the 40 public options, the University of Washington in Seattle is the largest. Roughly 40,000 students attend classes in fields like nursing, education, biology, and computer science. This public research institution is also affordable, charging about $11,000 for tuition. In fact, none of the public schools in Washington exceed $12,000 in price. This includes community colleges, technical colleges, and four-year universities, making Washington a uniquely affordable place to earn your associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

Washington also has 24 private institutions. Of those, nine are religious. The most widely known of these, Catholic university Gonzaga enrolls roughly 7,000 students, at a cost of $40,000, in areas such as religious studies, engineering, and law. Central Washington University (CWU) is a smaller public school, serving just over 12,000 students, and has a tuition of $8,000. With 15% of its population being Hispanic, CWU is now recognized as an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution. Washington health professions also have the opportunity to receive funding for loan repayment through Washington’s Health Professional Loan Repayment Program.

Set in the Pacific Northwest, Washington offers ocean beaches and lush forests. In fact, over half the state is covered in forests, earning Washington its nickname as The Evergreen State. Viewers atop the Space Needle in Seattle can take in the sights of Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and both the Cascades and Olympic mountain ranges. In addition, prospective students can choose from over 60 higher education institutions in the state.

Check out the top higher education programs and find an affordable degree in Washington.

What are Washington’s Colleges & Universities?

Washington’s Best Overall

Why Washington’s Colleges Are Excellent Options

The best community colleges in Washington are part of the 34-strong Washington Community and Technical Colleges system. In general, the system specializes in vocational and technical education as well as in university transfer and worker retraining programs. Most of these community and technical colleges offer associate degree and certificate programs, but some also offer bachelor’s degree programs.

History of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges System

The Community College Act of 1967, enacted into law on 3 April 1967, established the Washington State Community College system. The Act opened doors of opportunity for high school students who wanted to pursue a college education but wouldn’t have been able to access it in four-year colleges and universities.

But Centralia Junior College preceded the Act when it was established as the first state community college in Washington in 1925. By 1945, there were 12 community colleges in Washington, all of which were component units of their respective K-12 school districts.

The Act changed the structure of these community colleges by transferring authority to the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges over their overall administration. The State Board provides the 34 member community colleges with a wide range of services, from leadership programs to information technology services.

Current Status of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges System

Nowadays, many of the community colleges in the Washington system are recognized as among the best community colleges by national education experts! Pierce College was awarded the Leah Meyer Austin Award for its education reforms while Walla Walla Community College was recognized with the Aspen Institute Prize for Excellence.

Of the 34 community colleges, Bellevue College is the largest college in the system. Overall, the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system has served millions of students—and counting.

Every year, around 262,000 students are enrolled in the educational and workforce training programs in the community and technical colleges.

A few of these 34 Washington community colleges include:

While each community college has its specific mission and vision, the overall mission of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system is to provide all kinds of students with affordable and accessible education and workforce training. With its robust partnerships with educational institutions, local businesses, and communities, it provides learners with viable career and job pathways.

Higher Education Where and When You Want It

Many of the 34 community colleges and their branch campuses offer on-campus and online classes and programs. All offer associate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines, from liberal arts to health sciences.

Bachelor’s degree programs are also offered in some of the community colleges, particularly at Bellevue College, in disciplines like applied accounting, computer science, and molecular biosciences.

Full-time students pay about $4,300 in tution, the most affordable in Washington, but can access financial aid to make education even more accessible. Financial aid opportunities include federal and state financial aid, Early Achievers Grant, and Opportunity Grant.

Prospective students must check the official website of the community college they are interested in since admissions and programs requirements vary. Community college students have full access to the student support services including:

Academic advising and tutoring
Bookstores and libraries
Career planning and job search assistance including internships
Disability resources
eLearning for distance education students

Indeed, now is the best time to check out the programs and opportunities that the best community colleges in Washington have to offer—and there are plenty!

How do we determine Washington'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 33 community colleges in Washington. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in Washington.