WalletHub gives high ratings to South Bay community colleges

High-ranked education

In separate studies this month, the two schools in the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District were ranked among the top 20 in California, and they landed in the Top 10 community colleges with the greatest racial and ethnic diversity among faculty members in the nation.

An analysis by WalletHub ranked Evergreen Valley College no. 8 in the state, with San Jose City College (SJCC) not far behind at no. 15. At the national level, the two colleges ranked 35th and 71st, respectively, for cost, quality of education and career outcomes.

As to their faculties, SJCC ranked no. 6 and Evergreen no. 8 in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s national Diversity Index.

San Jose-Evergreen Community College District includes the areas served by the San José Unified School District.

Dr. Beatriz Chaidez, the district chancellor, said the Wallethub rankings, “while not necessarily comprehensive, give us a baseline by which we can compare our performance in certain areas against our peers in California and across the country.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Diversity Index measures “the probability that any two full-time instructional faculty members at an institution are from different racial or ethnic groups.”

“While we certainly benefit from being located in one of the most diverse regions in the country, we have also been very intentional with our faculty recruitment process,” Chaidez said in a statement. “By taking steps to ensure we recruit diverse applicant pools, we are able to hire the best and brightest faculty from throughout the nation and world.

“Representation matters,” added the chancellor. “It’s important that our students have educational role models with whom they can identify and an opportunity to learn from faculty from a variety of backgrounds.”