LINN  — With the new fall semester just days away, State Technical College of Missouri has been ranked the number one college in the nation by WalletHub (a personal finance website) for the fifth straight year.

“To maintain the top spot for half a decade is a compliment to our employees, employers, and the students that make State Tech an outstanding institution,” said President Dr. Shawn Strong. “The good news will continue next week when we open the 2023 fall semester with an anticipated seventh year in a row with record-breaking enrollment, maintaining our position as the fastest growing college in the state.”

In their recent article titled “2023’s Best & Worst Community Colleges,” WalletHub ranked nearly 700 colleges across the country. In determining its rankings, WalletHub considered a variety of factors broken down into three main categories. Career outcomes, education outcomes, and cost and financing were each assigned 33.33 points, with subcategories weighed on a 10-point scale. State Tech was graded the best overall college in the country.

The article noted that initially, WalletHub determined each school’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the sample, according to author Adam McCann.

WalletHub evaluated schools based on cost and financing, education outcomes, and career outcomes. The institution constructed the three dimensions using 19 metrics, each grouped with related metrics in the appropriate category and listed with its corresponding weight. WalletHub graded each metric on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best community college.

“Finally, we determined each school’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample,” said author Adam McCann.

“What WalletHub measures aligns well with what we do at State Tech,” said Dr. Strong. “We graduate students, and they get great paying jobs. We have one of the best graduation rates in the country and over 99 percent placement. Just days before the start of the new academic year, this ranking is a great way to kick things off and backs up why we like to say, ‘From the classroom to your career, we are The Employers’ Choice, we are State Tech.’”