Get to Know Nebraska Community Colleges (Part I: The Schools)

Get to Know Nebraska Community Colleges (Part I- The Schools)We’ve done some blog posts in the past about Southeast Community College, and SCC is a great place to go for manufacturing education.

But we wanted to remind you that Southeast is hardly the only community college around if you’re interested in getting an education in manufacturing.

Actually, there are 6 main community colleges in the state (5 of which are in the ), and today, we’re going to tell you a little bit about each in order to introduce you to the many educational opportunities in the state of Nebraska.

Central CC has locations in Columbus, Grand Island, Hastings, Holdrege, Kearney, and Lexington. They serve a 25-county area with a population of about 300,000. They offer 33 career and technical education programs with a focus on degree, diploma and certificate programs requiring two years or less to complete, and also offer an academic transfer program.

Mid-Plains CC has two locations: McCook Community College (a division of Mid-Plains) and North Platte. Mid-Plains also has extended locations in Broken Bow, Imperial, Ogallala, and Valentine. They offer a number of programs (both transfer degrees and technical/occupational), from art to electrical technology.

Northeast CC’s main location is in Norfolk, but they have education centers in O’Neill, South Sioux City and West Point. The Norfolk campus serves the entire northeast Nebraska area and is a great college for anyone interested in technical training. Like many of the other colleges here, the tuition rate at Northeast is among the lowest in the state.

Though we’ve written about Southeast before, they’re obviously still worth mentioning. Southeast’s main location is in Lincoln, but there are also campuses in Milford and Beatrice, as well as a continuing education center, entrepreneurship center, and education square (home to a large academic transfer program) in Lincoln. Southeast serves a 15-county area and has around 11,000 students enrolled annually.

Western Nebraska CC’s 3 campuses are located in Alliance, Scottsbluff, and Sidney, and in addition, they have the John N. Harms Advanced Technology Center in Scottsbluff. Western Nebraska CC serves a 12.5 county area over 17,000 square miles with a population of roughly 93,000.

Metro CC is no longer part of the Nebraska Community College Association, but they are still a great option for anyone looking for a 2-year degree or technical education in Nebraska. Metro has campuses in Elkhorn and Omaha, in addition to other smaller locations in Blair and La Vista.

As you can see, you have a lot of options in terms of Nebraska community colleges. All of them offer excellent educational opportunities (especially in manufacturing), and all are much less expensive than other 4-year universities–meaning that you can get out and get working with little to no student debt.

If you have any questions about any of the schools mentioned above, let us know in the comments or . Otherwise, look for our post tomorrow about the different manufacturing education programs offered at the colleges you see here.

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