‘The Equality of Opportunity Project’ ranks HCCC in the top 120 of 2,200

U.S. higher education institutions; the College is the only community college in New Jersey’s top ten colleges and universities.

A recently published study, “The Equality of Opportunity Project,” which tracked students from nearly every college in the country and measured their earnings years after they left campus, shows that Hudson County Community College (HCCC) is one of the top socially mobile colleges in the country.

The study utilized publicly available data from the federal government – 30 million students’ anonymous financial-aid records and tax filings from the period of 1999 to 2013 to determine if colleges are fostering access and equality. The study reveals that HCCC works as an engine of social mobility, helping working class students achieve the American dream of a middle class lifestyle. For example, the study shows that while 36.3% of students from HCCC come from the lowest fifth of the economic spectrum, 11% of those students actually end up in the top fifth of the economic spectrum.  Furthermore, a very large percentage of those students achieve incomes that place them in the top three-fifths of the economic distribution.

“The results of this study prove we are fulfilling our mission of providing high-quality educational opportunities that promote student success and are accessible, comprehensive and learning centered,” said Glen Gabert, Ph.D., Hudson County Community College’s President. “We are proud that we successfully afford lower-income students the opportunity to move up the ladder into middle class and higher.”

Dr. Gabert said the study proves the importance of affording lower-income students opportunities for attaining a higher education, especially in light of the fact that funding for public colleges has declined on a regular basis.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that state funding for higher education is down 18% per student (adjusted for inflation).

The study’s top ten rankings for New Jersey are: (1) New Jersey Institute of Technology, (2) Bloomfield College, (3) Saint Peter’s University, (4) New Jersey City University, (5) Stevens Institute of Technology, (6) Thomas A. Edison State College, (7) Berkeley College of Woodland park, (8) Hudson County Community College, (9) Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and (10) Kean University.  Of these, Hudson County Community College has dual-admission and/or transfer articulation agreements with seven of the schools in this group, thereby providing even greater opportunities for upward mobility for students.