Community colleges play a crucial role in higher education. Many students have begun using community colleges to defray the increasing cost of traditional higher education. In response to this demand, much of the job growth in higher education is taking place at the community college level. This article features ten of the top community colleges to work for in the U.S. All these employers offer a quality work environment and above average compensation and benefits among community colleges. We based our rankings on the strength of three major factors in employee satisfaction: work environment, compensation, and benefits.
#1. Rio Salado College
Website: http://www.riosalado.edu/Pages/default.aspx
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: One example of Rio Salado’s focus on its employees is the health and wellness coordinator. It is not uncommon for the health and wellness coordinator to arrange massage therapy sessions for faculty and staff during particularly high stress times of the year such as finals week.
Notable Perks: Strong compensation and benefits across the board when compared to most community colleges.
Average Salary: Full time faculty earn an average of $87,000 per year, salaried staff earn an average of $47,000 per year, adjunct and part time professors earn $4,000 per year.
#2. Blue Ridge Community College
Website: http://www.brcc.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Great compensation and benefits, flexible work schedules, and creative freedom for faculty according to an employee review on Glassdoor.
Notable Perks: 100% tuition remission for full time faculty and staff make this community college a fantastic place to work for support staff looking to get started on or finish a degree.
Average Salary: Full time faculty average a $56,000 per year salary, salaried professional staff average $49,000 per year, and adjunct professors average between $1,500 and $2,000 per course.
#3. Howard Community College
Website: http://www.howardcc.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Howard received top marks in ten out of 12 categories on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s list. The faculty is engaged with the students and is know to form learning communities outside of class to facilitate important discussion.
Notable Perks: The benefits and perks here meet and in many cases exceed those that are available at other, larger institutions.
Average Salary: Full-time faculty earns an average salary of $69,000 per year, salaried staff averages $50,000 per year, and adjunct professors earn between $2,000 and $4,000 per class.
#4. Panola College
Website: http://www.panola.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Panola has a low voluntary turnover rate among faculty, and it’s only .4% higher among support staff according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. This level of job satisfaction among both faculty and support staff is rare.
Notable Perks: Panola College features strong benefits, including both state administered and optional privately administered retirement plans.
Average Salary: Full-time faculty averages $52,000 per year, salaried staff earns an average of $53,000 per year, and adjunct professors earn between $1,500 and $2,000 per three credit course.
#5. Lake Area Technical Institute
Website: http://www.lakeareatech.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Collaborative governance fosters respect between administrators and faculty, and demonstrates the trust of the administration in the opinions of the faculty while ensuring the intelligence of the staff is being utilized to its full potential. The president has been known to write personal thank you notes to faculty and staff she notices going above and beyond to help students.
Notable Perks: Lake Area Tech offers strong general benefits packages for full-time employees.
Average Salary: Salaried professionals earn an average of $38,000 per year, full-time faculty average $47,000 per year, adjunct faculty earn between $2,000 and $4,000 per course.
#6. Somerset Community College
Website: http://www.somerset.kctcs.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: This small Kentucky community college makes sure that faculty and staff can fully enjoy its idyllic location. The campus features nature trails for walking and running, and the school’s attention to the smallest details is demonstrated by a biology department effort which posted informative signs identifying various examples of local plant life.
Notable Perks: Somerset Community College is strong both in compensation and the benefits offered to full time employees.
Average Salary: Full-time faculty earn an average salary of $48,000 per year, salaried professionals average $39,000, adjunct and part time faculty earn between $1,500 and $2,000 per three credit course.
#7. North Arkansas College
Website: http://www.northark.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: North Arkansas College cares about its employees and their families and features several policies that demonstrate this care. Voluntary turnover among staff in particular is low, at just 1.1% according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Notable Perks: Employees and their families can take any course at the college for a grand total of $5. Employees are guaranteed an extra paid half hour off per day for time they specifically devote to exercise.
Average Salary: Full-time faculty earn an average of $48,000 per year, salaried staff averages $39,000 per year, and adjunct faculty average between $1,500 and $2,000 per three credit course.
#8. Miami Dade College
Website: http://www.mdc.edu/main
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Miami Dade College boasts a diverse intellectual community devoted to mutual growth. The college encourages collaboration between students and professors and hosts one of the largest literary events nationwide annually.
Notable Perks: Medical and dental insurance, tuition reimbursement (for those employees attending other schools) and waivers (for those employees attending Miami Dade College) and a host of others.
Average Salary: Salaried professionals earn an average of $45,000 per year, full-time faculty average $65,000 per year, adjunct and part time faculty earn between $2,000 and $4,000 per class.
#9. Tallahassee Community College
Website: https://www.tcc.fl.edu/Pages/default.aspx
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Features a great environment for both faculty and staff. The institution goes to great lengths to encourage healthy lifestyles.
Notable Perks: Faculty and staff have access to an employee gym where they can use the facilities, take nutrition classes, and engage the services of a personal trainer, it’s all free.
Average Salary: Full-time faculty earn an average salary of $74,000, salaried staff earn an average of $47,000, adjunct and part time faculty earn between $2,000 and $4,000 per class.
#10. Southside Virginia Community College
Website: http://www.sv.vccs.edu
Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Employees enjoy the small, caring intellectual community they find at this community college. Both the employees and students care about the institution and collaborate on projects to improve the campus.
Notable Perks: This college features several strong retirement plan options.
Average Salary: Full-time faculty earn an average salary of $57,000 per year, salaried professionals average $46,000 per year, adjunct and part time faculty earn between $1,500 and $2,000 per year.
Sources
Glass Door was used for both salary information, and to evaluate employee values and regard for the institution based on the included employee reviews.
Chronicle of Higher Education’s “best colleges to work for honor roll” was taken into consideration when deciding which aspects of the college to focus on while evaluating the components of employee satisfaction.
Other information was obtained from college websites.