Santa Fe College

Santa Fe College dropped five spots down in the Top 10 of Florida community colleges, according to a Schools.com analysis announced Monday.

 Two years ago, SFC was named the No. 1 community college in Florida. Schools.com released its 2018 rankings, and SFC took the sixth spot.

“Santa Fe College has been involved in activities for years,” SFC President Jackson Sasser said. “It’s always been about student performance, and that’s been recognized nationally, and we are really pleased.”

            The data is from the National Center for Education Statistics, and the ranking is based on criteria that is important to students. Like cost of attendance, graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratio, retention rate and percentage of students enrolled in distance education.

            The college had the cheapest cost of attendance among the Top 10 schools, $3,180 annually. 

“Low tuition has always been our ethic,” Sasser said.

“A $20 increase per credit hour in tuition could keep someone out of our college,” Sasser said. “We want that student here.”

SFC is also tied for having the second-highest graduation rate. It also admits nearly two-thirds of students to the University of Florida.

“I want to be number one. I want every student to graduate,” Sasser said.

“We were No. 1 two years ago, but our measure is not against anybody else. Our measure is about what we do,” Sasser said.