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SCC ranked 45th on 2008 Community College Week Magazine’s list of “Top 100 Associate Degree Producers”

Somerset Community College was ranked 45th in the 2008 Community College Week Magazine’s list of Top 100 Associate Degree Producers. SCC achieved the ranking in both “One-Year Certificates – All Disciplines” and “Two-Year Certificates – All Disciplines,” according to the magazine.

SCC was also listed in a chart in the article entitled “Big Leapers,” which included colleges that saw the biggest increase in associate degree production in the last five years. According to the chart, SCC awarded 264 associate degrees in 2003, 446 in 2004, 425 in 2005, 475 in 2006 and 536 in 2007. SCC’s percentage of increase, according to the magazine was 19.4 percent.

Sara Burnett, a reporter for the magazine, wrote “The nation’s … colleges capitalized on the demand for associate degrees in recent years, recording huge increases in the number of degrees awarded, according to a Community College Week analysis.”

Burnett quoted William Pepicello, the president of the University of Phoenix, as saying that the increase was the result of colleges responding to “a movement” among students to seek associate degrees.
Pepicello went on to say, “There’s definitely a movement especially given the economy right now, to look for (an associate degree) as a way to improve themselves.”

The ranking were based upon data reported by the institutions to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which is run by the National Center for Education Statistics. Community College Week compared the average annual increase in associate degrees awarded between 2003 and 2007, the most recent years for which data is available.

Besides SCC, two other community colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) were included in the “Big Leapers” chart. Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington showed a percentage increase of 65.5 percent and Jefferson Community and Technical College in Louisville increased by 18.6 percent.
Eight of the 16 KCTCS colleges were included in the “Top 100 Associate Degree Producers” list. Those included: West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah (17th), Bluegrass Community and Technical College (18th), Jefferson Community and Technical College (22nd), Maysville Community and Technical College (32nd), Somerset Community College (45th), Bowling Green Technical College (48th), Owensboro Community and Technical College (88th), and Ashland Community and Technical College (93rd).

Somerset Community College is a comprehensive two-year institution of higher education. SCC has campuses in Somerset and London, centers in Clinton, McCreary, Casey and Russell Counties. The website is www.somerset.kctcs.edu. Call for admission and registration information toll free at 1-877-629-9722.

KCTCS serves the Commonwealth through 16 community and technical college districts that form a seamless system of 62 campuses open or under construction. KCTCS colleges change lives by providing accessible and affordable education and training through academic and technical associate degrees; diploma and certificate programs in occupational fields; pre-baccalaureate education; adult, continuing and developmental education; customized training for business and industry; and distance learning. For more information, visit www.kctcs.edu.