College Navigator reports that there are 10 institutions in Indiana that offer two-year associate degree programs.
College Board estimates that the average Indiana student paid $5,038 in tuition and fees at public in-district community colleges during the 2022-23 school year.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 452,493 students attending two-year institutions in the U.S. relied on financial aid during the 2019-20 school year.
Editor’s Note: Our research resulted in only one pick for this page.
To create the list of best community colleges in Indiana, we compiled a list of schools in the state. Each school was a nonprofit, accredited institution — either public or private — with a high standard of academic quality for post-secondary institutions. We included small, midsize, and large colleges as well as trade, technical, and vocational programs. Next, we compared this comprehensive list to a list of aggregated college rankings from reputable publications like the U.S. News & World Report among others to simplify a student’s college search. We pored through these rankings so students don’t have to.
The college on our list is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a reputable organization that examines objectives, quality and overall effectiveness of education programs throughout the United States.
We evaluated this school on tuition costs, admission, retention and graduation rates, faculty, and reputation as well as the student resources provided for students. Then we calculated the Intelligent Score on a scale of 0 to 100. Read more about our ranking methodology.
As you prepare for community college, it’s important to think about what kind of career you’d like. In 2021, the occupations that had the highest median wages for associate degree holders in Indiana were air traffic controllers, radiation therapists, dental hygienists, nuclear medicine technologists, and MRI technologists.
There’s no doubt that the job market can get competitive. Job seekers with an associate degree should review career fields that typically have high availability. The occupations projected to have the most job openings for the next decade in Indiana are preschool teachers (excluding special education), paralegals and legal assistants, radiologic technicians, and physical therapy assistants.
Another important factor to consider when pursuing a career is which fields you should avoid. Occupations in Indiana that require an associate degree and are expected to decline in employment over the next 10 years include desktop publishers, human resources assistants (excluding payroll and timekeeping), mechanical drafters, and morticians.
As you pursue community college, it’s important to consider how you are going to fund your education. To help associate degree students find financial aid, we’ve put together a list of federal and state resources that connect you to grants and scholarships in Indiana.