August 18, 2020
Best Community Colleges: North Iowa Area Community College (IA)
North Iowa Area Community College
(NIACC), a two-year community college located in Mason City, Iowa, serves the
North Iowa region. North Iowa Area Community College was founded in 1918 as the
first public two-year college in Iowa.
Annual enrollment at North Iowa is
3700, with 56% enrolled in transfer programs and 44% in Career/Vocational
programs.
Among first-time, full-time
degree-seeking students at NIACC, 42% graduate within 3 years and another 20%
transfer prior to graduation.
NIACC has more than 40 articulation
agreements with 4-year colleges and universities and almost all of the school’s
career/vocational programs are transferable.
The community college has a notably
low tuition, compared to other community colleges, colleges and universities in
the region. Additionally, NIACC offers an “Extreme Makeover: College Edition”
contest annually, where two lucky students win an entire year of education at
NIACC for free, including textbooks and other resources.
NIACC Career & Technical
graduates have a 95% placement rate while 91% of NIACC graduates continue to
live and work in North Iowa.
NIACC’s John Pappajohn
Entrepreneurial Center is a major source of entrepreneurial support for local
residents and the community in reaching their potential. The center has
assisted in 127 new local business starts and 300+ new statewide starts.
The junior college has a strong
intercollegiate athletics program – with more than 250 students involved —
including men’s baseball, basketball, wrestling, golf, cross country, soccer
and track & field; and women’s basketball, softball, cross country,
volleyball, golf and track & field. For example, NIACC claimed the 2013
Region XI baseball title.
The NIACC Performing Arts &
Leadership Series offers a variety of shows, entertaining ~16,000 people each
year. Online classes and a continuing education program provide learning to
more than 3000 participants annually.
The Aspen Institute listed North
Iowa Area Community College among the top 10% of all U.S. community colleges in
2013. The college ranked #14 in the CNN Money listing of top community colleges
in 2012.
