This Central New York School Is the Best Community College in the State

A prestigious education watchdog officially ranked a local community college #1 in all of New York.

New Rankings by EDSmart.org

Prospective and current college students have a new tool to help them connect with school resources. The website EDSmart.org updates its annual lists and ranking of the nation's colleges and universities, from finding the most affordable to the best online courses.

The website also breaks its rankings down on a state-by-state basis and recently compared the nation's best community colleges.  There are currently 121 two-year academic institutions throughout the Empire State, in addition to having over 60 colleges and universities statewide.

Schools are ranked on a sliding scale of 0 to 100. Factors include "salary after attending, average net price, retention rate, and 4-year graduation rate" to determine the overall scores.

The website explained:

The Salary After Attending provides insight into the economic outcomes for graduates, while the Average Net Price offers a measure of the financial burden on students. Retention Rate is an indicator of student satisfaction and institutional quality, and the 4-Year Graduation Rate reflects the efficiency and effectiveness of the educational programs. The composite score is calculated to give a balanced view of each college's performance, ensuring that the ranking is comprehensive and representative of the overall experience and outcomes for students at these colleges.

When looking at the best New York has to offer, the website declared Herkimer College the best community school in the state.

Herkimer College was the only institution to land a perfect score of 100 out of 100.

Hooray for Herkimer!

EDSmart broke down what made Herkimer College their #1 pick.

• Score: 100

• Salary After Attending: $36,749

• Average Net Price: $8,096

• Retention Rate: 54%

• Graduation Rate (4-year): 36%

Second place finisher, SUNY Broome Community College, earned a score of 99 out of 100. While salary and net price performed better than Herkimer's, its retention rate was a lot lower and cost it those valuable points.

Third place went to SUNY Clinton Community College, which scored 97 out of 100. Fourth went to SUNY Genesee Community College, which scored a 96.6, while SUNY Corning Community College rounded out the top 5 with a score of 95.8.

EDSmart added it uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics' College Navigator to determine its final scores.

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