This NYC Community College Is No. 2 In The Nation

NEW YORK — New Yorkers don't have to turn to the Ivy League for a good education. One Manhattan school was named the nation's second-best community college in a new WalletHub study, while the state's community college system placed fifth in the U.S. on a separate list.

The personal finance website ranked 715 community colleges across the U.S. based on 17 factors in three categories: cost and financing, education outcomes and career outcomes. WalletHub also ranked the states with at least two listed colleges by calcuating a weighted average of the scores for their schools and the number of students enrolled at each one.

Stella and Charles Guttman Community College in Midtown placed second in the nation and took the No. 1 spot in the cost and financing category.

The school, part of the City University of New York system, tied for the highest per-pupil spending in the nation and had the third-highest average amount of grant or scholarship aid received at $7,933, WalletHub found.

Guttman is more expensive than most schools, according to WalletHub — in-state tuition and fees total $5,194, which falls 541st on the list.

The school ranked 145th for education outcomes but didn't have a numerical rank for career outcomes because WalletHub couldn't find data for the metrics in that category, a WalletHub spokeswoman said.

Guttman and two other CUNY schools placed among the state's top five community colleges, according to WalletHub. Queensborough Community College and Kingsborough Community College ranked No. 3 and 4, respectively, while Columbia-Greene Community College ranked second and Hudson Valley Community College ranked fifth.

Only four states had better overall community college systems than New York, according to WalletHub: South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Arkansas.

See WalletHub's full list of the nation's best community colleges here and the state-by-state ranking here.

(Lead image: Stella and Charles Guttman Community College is pictured in Midtown Manhattan. Image from Google Maps)