Why This Matters

  • 29 LOUISIANA COLLEGES WITH ASSOCIATE DEGREE PROGRAMS

    In Louisiana, there are 29 community colleges that offer associate degrees, according to College Navigator.

  • $4,200 AVERAGE TUITION & FEES FOR IN-DISTRICT STUDENTS

    The average amount paid for in-district tuition and fees at community colleges in Louisiana was $4,200 for the 2022-23 school year, based on estimates from College Board.

  • 80.6% OF U.S. COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID

    According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 452,493 enrolled college students at two-year colleges in the United States received financial aid of some type to help pay for college.

Our Research

This list features some of the best community colleges in Louisiana. Each school featured is 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 colleges on our list are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), a reputable organization that examines objectives, quality and overall effectiveness of education programs in the southern United States.

We evaluated each 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.

The Top 50 Community Colleges in Louisiana

Best Community Colleges In Louisiana Badge 2023
01
Intelligent Pick
South Louisiana Community College
01
Best for Adult Learners
River Parishes Community College
01
Best Student Support Services
Louisiana Delta Community College
01
Best Job Placement Rate
Baton Rouge Community College
01
Best for Nursing
Delgado Community College
01
Best Student-to-Faculty Ratio
Nunez Community College
01
Best for Technical Training
Sowela Technical Community College
01
Best for First-Generation Students
Central Louisiana Technical Community College at Alexandria
01
Best Accelerated Program
Bossier Parish Community College
01
Most Innovative Curriculum
Fletcher Technical Community College

What You Should Know About Graduating From Community College in Louisiana

Learning about the potential of various career options in Louisiana can help you choose your associate degree program. Based on 2021 wages, the five highest-paying occupations requiring only an associate degree in Louisiana were hydraulic technicians, mechanical engineering technicians, air traffic controllers, industrial engineering technologists, and geological technicians.

Looking at the number of job openings will help you choose a career with good opportunities. The five jobs requiring an associate degree with the most job openings in Louisiana include paralegals and legal assistants, calibration technologists, chemical technicians, physical therapist assistants, and radiologic technicians.

Some careers that require an associate degree are expected to decrease. In Louisiana, the jobs with the greatest projected decline are desktop publishers, electro-mechanical and mechatronics technicians, funeral home managers, morticians, and embalmers.

What’s Next?

Another part of planning for community college is looking into financial aid options. The list below shows state and federal resources for financial aid that’s available to Louisiana students enrolled in an associate degree program.

  • Louisiana Board of Regents. The Louisiana Board of Regents offers information on tuition, admission requirements, and state and federal financial aid options.
  • Federal Student Aid. The office of Federal Student Aid offers more than $120 billion in financial aid each year as scholarships, loans, grants, and work-study opportunities. FAFSA4caster lets you check your eligibility, and there’s an online FAFSA form you can use to apply for federal financial aid.
  • CareerOneStop. Get detailed information on loans, scholarships, and grants from CareerOneStop. You can filter by state and degree type to find financial aid that applies to your situation. It gives you application details, qualifications, and other important information.