South Georgia Technical College has earned the top spot as the Best Community College in Georgia for 2022 by Niche, announced South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford. This is the third consecutive year that South Georgia Technical College has earned this distinction. Niche’s Best College rankings for 2022 for Georgia can be found at: https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-community-colleges/s/georgia/
In addition to being named the Best Community College in Georgia for the third consecutive year, SGTC was also listed as the 48th best community college in America. A total of 845 colleges in the U.S. were reviewed by Niche.com for these rankings. The SGTC Culinary Arts program also ranked 34th in the nation.
“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 three consecutive years. 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 for the third consecutive year.”
He also complimented SGTC Culinary Arts Instructor Chef Ricky Watzlowick on the Americus campus, who was the college’s 2021 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year, and Chef Hunter Little on the Crisp County campus for their work with students to earn the national ranking in the Culinary Arts field. SGTC was the highest rated Culinary Arts program in Georgia. Savannah Technical College in Savannah, GA was the only other Georgia college recognized as being one of the top 50 colleges for Culinary Arts and they were listed as 36th in the nation.
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 1,223 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.
The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Emory University, the University of Georgia, Mercer University and Agnes Scott College 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. There are also a number of private and for-profit colleges operating in the state.
“South Georgia Technical College is an excellent choice for an individual that is interested in finding the career of a lifetime. We offer students the ‘complete college experience’ with 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 intercollegiate 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). The college has also had students nationally recognized in its SkillsUSA, National Technical Honor Society, and Phi Beta Lambda organizations.
One student posted, “my experience at South Georgia Technical College was absolutely astonishing. The instructors were so kind and helpful. What I like most about the college is the Move On When Ready Program (MOWR) that is offered. It is a great way for students to receive college and high school credits while still attending high school.”
Other students posted, “great experience, advisers and instructors work with students to meet their educational needs. My time here has been awesome.” And fun, laid back teachers are very helpful. Classes are fun. There are fun activities on campus and the basketball teams are awesome!”
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. Students can begin applying now for Spring Semester which begins January 12th.
John M. Pope Center on the Americus campus