AMERICUS — South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) has earned the top spot as the Best Community College in Georgia for 2017 for the second time this year, announced SGTC President John Watford, Ed.D. Niche just released their Best College rankings for 2017 for Georgia and SGTC was listed as number one. Best Colleges in Georgia ranked SGTC as the number one college earlier this year. The Niche 2017 rankings can be found at:  https://www.niche.com/colleges/rankings/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 President Watford. “We are very pleased that Niche has ranked us as the number one community college in Georgia for 2017. Both Best Colleges and Niche have recognized the outstanding accomplishments of South Georgia Technical College and this is a testament to the faculty, staff, and students at South Georgia Tech. Being recognized with a top honor, not just once, but twice in the same year, provides validation about the quality and excellence in technical education that we provide.”
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 804 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:  average loan amount, alumni earnings, student surveys regarding value, awards won by faculty, student-faculty ratio, student surveys regarding professor quality, student experience 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 and The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) topped the list for the four-year colleges and universities. Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus was listed at 28th in the four-year category.
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 Watford.
Partnerships with industry leaders such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Georgia Power 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).