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.
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.
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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.
We’ve identified 33 community colleges in Washington. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in Washington.
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
34%
Student body
10K
Bellevue College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
33%
Student body
6K
Columbia Basin College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
46%
Student body
2K
Peninsula College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
27%
Student body
6K
Seattle Central College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
34%
Student body
3K
Wenatchee Valley College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
38%
Student body
5K
Highline College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
30%
Student body
6K
Spokane Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
39%
Student body
3K
Lake Washington Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
38%
Student body
7K
Everett Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
26%
Student body
4K
Spokane Falls Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
40%
Student body
4K
South Puget Sound Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
31%
Student body
4K
Skagit Valley College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
30%
Student body
5K
Olympic College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Graduation
52%
Student body
7K
Charter College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
42%
Student body
2K
Centralia College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
35%
Student body
5K
Shoreline Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
37%
Student body
3K
Bates Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
38%
Student body
8K
Green River College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
42%
Student body
3K
Walla Walla Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
30%
Student body
6K
Edmonds College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
30%
Student body
4K
North Seattle College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
42%
Student body
3K
Whatcom Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
28%
Student body
2K
Lower Columbia College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
37%
Student body
2K
Big Bend Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
25%
Student body
5K
Tacoma Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
34%
Student body
7K
Clark College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
34%
Student body
4K
Clover Park Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
52%
Student body
2K
Bellingham Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
24%
Student body
<1K
Northwest Indian College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
40%
Student body
4K
South Seattle College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
28%
Student body
4K
Yakima Valley College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
33%
Student body
2K
Grays Harbor College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
57%
Student body
2K
Renton Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utiulized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.