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Why This Matters

  • 11 TWO-YEAR INSTITUTIONS GRANT ASSOCIATE DEGREES IN NORTH DAKOTA

    According to College Navigator, North Dakota has 11 two-year institutions that offer associate degree programs.

  • $5,649 AVERAGE TUITION & FEES FOR PUBLIC, IN-DISTRICT COMMUNITY COLLEGES

    College Board estimates that the typical North Dakota student paid $5,649 to attend public, in-district community college for the 2022-23 school year.

  • 80.6% OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID

    The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 370,718 students attending two-year institutions during the 2020-21 school year received some type of financial aid.

Our Research

This list features some of the best community colleges in North Dakota. 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 Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a reputable organization that examines objectives, quality and overall effectiveness of education programs throughout the 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.

Online College Programs That Might Interest You

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

The Top 50 Community Colleges in North Dakota

Best Community Colleges In North Dakota Badge 2023
01

North Dakota State College of Science
01

Williston State College
01

Lake Region State College
01

Cankdeska Cikana Community College
01

Dakota College at Bottineau
01

Bismarck State College
01

Sitting Bull College
01

Turtle Mountain Community College
01

United Tribes Technical College
01

Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College

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What You Should Know About Graduating From Community College in North Dakota

Community college students should think about which career field they’d like to enter after graduation. In 2021, the jobs with the highest median wages for associate degree holders in North Dakota were air traffic controllers, nuclear medicine technologists, mechanical engineering technologists, dental hygienists, and diagnostic medical sonographers.

Considering that the job market gets more competitive every year, students should also consider which career fields tend to have high employment rates. The occupations expected to have the most annual job openings in North Dakota for associate degree holders are preschool teachers (excluding special education), radiologic technologists, calibration technologists, paralegals and legal assistants, and architectural and civil drafters.

Job seekers in North Dakota may want to avoid fields that typically have low employment rates. Careers that require associate degrees and are expected to decline over the next 10 years include morticians, broadcast technicians, agricultural and food science technicians, human resources assistants (excluding payroll and timekeeping), and air traffic controllers.

What’s Next?

As you prepare for community college, you should consider how you plan to fund your education. We’ve assembled a list of federal and state resources that connect you to grants, scholarships, and other financial aid opportunities available to associate degree students in North Dakota.

  • North Dakota University System. The North Dakota University System helps residents access funding for higher education by connecting students to federal scholarships and grants, state-based scholarships and loans, private and institutional awards, and work-study programs.
  • Federal Student Aid. Around $120 billion worth of financial aid is provided by the U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid every year. Interested students can check their eligibility at the FAFSA4caster and apply by completing the online FAFSA form.
  • CareerOneStop. Sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CareerOneStop helps students find scholarships available for their state and degree level. It also provides helpful details about award amounts, qualification requirements, and application deadlines.

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