South Georgia Tech named the best Community College in Georgia for 2020

January 8, 2020
South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford (r) is shown above talking with students and employees during a college registration and orientation session. South Georgia Technical College is currently accepting students for Spring Registration.

    South Georgia Technical College has earned the top spot as the Best Community College in Georgia for 2020 by Niche, announced South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford.  Niche just released their Best College rankings for 2020 for Georgia and South Georgia Technical College was listed as number one.  The Niche 2020 rankings can be found at:  https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-community-colleges/s/georgia/

    “South Georgia Technical College has a tremendous reputation for providing an outstanding two-year education that prepares students for the workforce,” said South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford.  “We are very pleased that Niche has ranked us as the number one community college in Georgia for 2020.  This provides external validation about the quality and excellence in technical education that we provide.”

    Dr. Watford gave credit to the community as well as the faculty, staff, and students at South Georgia Technical College.  “This ranking is a testament to the faculty, staff and students at South Georgia Technical College and to our business and industry partners.  Students attend South Georgia Technical College because of the outstanding faculty and staff here who continuously work for the betterment of students.  Our professionals are helping students, enroll, remain in classes, and become educated and trained for the careers of their choice.  Then we work with business and industry partners to help place students in the workplace.  This type of cooperation and hard work is what has helped us to be the top community college in Georgia.”

   Niche is a website that rigorously analyzes dozens of public data sets and millions of reviews to produce comprehensive rankings, report cards, and profiles for every K-12 school, college and neighborhood in the U.S.  Niche has over 100 million reviews and poll responses with transparent statistics needed to help find the right college or school for individuals.

   Niche assessed 871 colleges.  For the purpose of this ranking, community colleges include public post-secondary institutions where the majority of the degrees conferred are two-year or fewer.  Statistics were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education.

   The factors considered for the ranking included statistics such as:  academics, average loan amount, alumni earnings, student surveys regarding value, awards won by faculty, student-faculty ratio, student surveys regarding professor quality, grades including retention and graduation rates, and overall student experience.  Other factors included:  the ethnic composition of the student body, proportion of international students and out-of-state students as well as information from the area such as median rent, local crime rates, access to amenities, campus crime rate, and health and safety services on campus.

    Emory University, The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the University of Georgia topped the list for the four-year colleges and universities.  The state of Georgia is home to more than 60 colleges and universities, including 30 schools under the University System of Georgia (USG), and 22 schools within the state’s technical college system. 

    “South Georgia Technical College is an excellent choice for an individual that is interested in finding the career of a lifetime.  We offer over 200 different associate degree, diploma, or technical certificate of credit programs that individuals can choose from,” said Dr. Watford.

   Partnerships with industry leaders such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Georgia Power, Delta, and others have helped the college to earn world-wide recognition in graduating students in heavy equipment technology while also taking advantage of the complete college experience including on-campus housing, a full-service cafeteria, men’s and women’s basketball, intramural sports, and clubs and student organizations.  The college also highlights particularly successful students through its Student of Excellence program and by participation in the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL).

    To apply or for more information contact the SGTC admissions office at 229-931-2394 in Americus or 229-271-4040 for the Crisp County Center campus.  Fall semester begins August 14th and students are encouraged to apply early.