College Navigator shows that Mississippi has 16 community colleges that offer two-year associate degree programs.
On average, a Mississippi resident paid $3,730 during the 2022-23 school year to cover tuition and fees at in-district community colleges, according to College Board.
Based on data from the 2019-20 school year, 452,493 enrolled students at two-year community colleges in the U.S. received some type of financial aid to pay for their tuition and fees.
This list features some of the best community colleges in Mississippi. 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.
Looking at potential career paths will help you choose the best program for you. In Mississippi, the top five highest-paying jobs for people with associate degrees were air traffic controllers, avionics technicians, radiation therapists, nuclear medicine technologists, and diagnostic medical sonographers.
Another consideration is the number of job openings available. Careers requiring associate degrees in Mississippi with the most job openings include preschool teachers (except special education), paralegals and legal assistants, radiologic technologists, physical therapy assistants, and dental hygienists.
It’s also a good idea to know which career paths expect declining employment. The jobs requiring an associate degree that are projected to decline the most in Mississippi are broadcast technicians, mechanical drafters, morticians, forest and conservation technicians, and architectural and civil drafters.
Looking into financial aid options is another part of the community college research process. Below is a list of state and federal resources highlighting the grants, scholarships, and loans available to Mississippi students at community colleges.