QCC Named Top 25 Community Colleges that Advance Opportunities for Low-Income Students

QCC was named one of three community colleges in MA that advance opportunities for low-income students. The U.S Department of Education recently released a list of 25 community colleges across the country that advance opportunities for low-income students, enrolling more than 40 percent low-income students and having high outcomes for those students.

“It is an important part of our mission as a community college to be accessible to low-income students,” said QCC President Gail Carberry. “By affording our students an opportunity to earn a high-quality education, we are not only improving their lives, but the lives of their families. Many of our students go on to further education and to work in our region, so this strengthens the Worcester community and beyond.”

The other two community colleges that were named in Massachusetts were North Shore Community College and Springfield Technical Community College.

At QCC, the share of low-income students is 49 percent. In addition, more than 70 percent of all borrowers at these schools were successfully repaying their loans three years after they left school.

“It’s important to know that both the college you select and the program you enroll in can have an impact on your post-college earnings – schools that offer more technical or health programs, or where a lot of students transfer to a four-year college, often have higher earnings,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.

This is part of an overall College Scorecard, which is a federal initiative, called for by President Barack Obama. It gives everyone — students, families, guidance counselors and non-profits — access to a whole host of data verified by the U.S. Department of Education on thousands of institutions across the nation in an easy-to-use online tool.