INA, Ill. (Aug. 24, 2017) - Rend Lake College has made a third straight appearance on WalletHub’s best community colleges ranking, topping all other Illinois colleges for a second year in a row and landing 11th in the nation. The ranking compared 728 colleges on a 100-point scale based on 14 performance metrics.
WalletHub, a personal financial website, published the scores earlier this week to help students focus on key factors, described as “attractive qualities,†when choosing their next educational step. These include aspects students look for most when choosing an institution, such as class size, cost of attendance, transfer rates, and more.
Overall, RLC landed 14th in the nation when it comes to career outcomes - up six places from the 2016 report. Career outcomes are based on student-loan default rate and return on educational investment, or the ratio of starting salary for graduates compared to the cost of education.
RLC also placed 52nd overall in educational outcomes, which includes first-year retention rate, graduation rate, transfer-out rate, student-faculty ratio, and credentials (degrees and certificates) awarded per 100 full-time equivalency students.
President Terry Wilkerson said he’s honored to represent RLC as the only community college from Illinois in the top 50.
“For the third consecutive year, Rend Lake College’s faculty and staff continue to show their commitment to students and the district by finding a spot on this national ranking,†said Wilkerson. “As a college, we’re constantly looking to make improvements for our students, and moving up six places in career outcomes is proof of what we are doing every day. It’s honoring to be recognized for doing the best we can and making the impact.â€
The final category in the ranking - cost and financing - measured RLC on the cost of in-state tuition and fees, amount of state and local aid, total amount of federal aid, cost per student, school spending efficiency, and faculty staff salary. RLC was in the top 50 percent at 350.
According to WalletHub, the information and data included in the ranking was gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, and College Measures.
To view the WalletHub ranking, visit www.wallethub.com. Start your journey at RLC by visiting www.rlc.edu.
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