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Howard Community College Data & Information Overview

282 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
9% Student Loan Default Rate
If you want to know more about Howard Community College, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

How Well Is Howard Community College Ranked?

#319 Best Colleges in Nation
#7 Best Colleges in MD
Allied Health Professions Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Howard Community College was awarded 282 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is allied health professions.

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Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, HCC is ranked #319 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when HCC held the #600 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

HCC also holds the #7 spot on the Best Colleges in Maryland ranking.

See all of the rankings for Howard Community College.

Is It Hard to Get Into HCC?

Open Admissions Policy

Acceptance Rate

Howard Community College has an open admissions policy, so you should not have much trouble being accepted by the school. Still, it is important to fill out the application completely and submit any requested materials, which may include proof that you have a high school diploma or the equivalent.

Learn more about Howard Community College admissions.

Howard Community College Faculty

13 to 1 Student to Faculty
28% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

With a student to faculty ratio of 13 to 1, Howard Community College is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Howard Community College is 28%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  28 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Howard Community College

68% Freshmen Retention

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Howard Community College is 68%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  68 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Howard Community College.

Howard Community College Undergraduate Student Diversity

2,683 Full-Time Undergraduates
59.4% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
54.5% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 9,566 undergraduates at HCC with 2,683 being full-time and 6,883 being part-time.

How Much Does Howard Community College Cost?

$10,329 Net Price
7% Take Out Loans
$18,368 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of HCC is $10,329. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for HCC

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$9,119 $10,132 $11,445 $13,711 $14,747

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of HCC, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At HCC, approximately 7% of students took out student loans averaging $4,592 a year. That adds up to $18,368 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at HCC is 8.5%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.

Get more details about paying for Howard Community College.

How Much Money Do HCC Graduates Make?

$43,989 Avg Salary of Grads
Average Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from HCC make around $43,989 per year during the early years of their employment. That's great news for HCC students since it is 4% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Howard Community College make the most money.

Location of Howard Community College

Maryland State
2,683 Full-Time Undergraduates
Midsize City Campus Setting
Howard Community College is a public institution situated in Columbia, Maryland. The city atmosphere of Columbia makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of Howard Community College.

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Contact details for HCC are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia, MD 21044-3197
Phone: 443-518-1000
Website: www.howardcc.edu/

Howard Community College Majors

35 Majors With Completions
1,341 Undergraduate Degrees
Learn more about the majors offered at Howard Community College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at HCC

60% Take At Least One Class Online
24% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

In 2020-2021, 4,878 students took at least one online class at Howard Community College. This is a decrease from the 7,562 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 4,878 1,910
2019-2020 7,562 3,788
2018-2019 2,489 759
2017-2018 2,265 638
2016-2017 2,143 609

Learn more about online learning at Howard Community College.

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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