by our College Data Analytics TeamIf you want to know more about Howard College, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
Howard College was awarded 10 badges in the 2026 rankings.
College Factual ranked Howard County Junior College as #2,202 out of 3,449 colleges and universities in the country on its 2026 Best Colleges list.
Howard County Junior College also holds the #118 spot on the Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
At Howard College, the student to faculty ratio is 25 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Howard College is 100%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate is a sign of how many full-time students like a college or university well enough to come back for their sophomore year. At Howard College this rate is 60%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor’s degree within four years. At Howard County Junior College this rate is 36%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Howard College.
In the current academic year, there are 1,588 undergraduates at Howard County Junior College.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Howard College.
The typical net cost at Howard County Junior College is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for Howard County Junior College
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $6,683 | $7,400 | $9,713 | $10,341 | $12,936 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Howard County Junior College, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Howard County Junior College, approximately 9% of students took out student loans averaging $5,912 a year. That adds up to $23,648 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 22.8%. This is significantly higher than the national default rate of 10.1%, which means you could have trouble paying back your student loans if you take any out. Get more details about paying for Howard College.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Howard College make around $38,382 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 22% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
Howard College is an public institution found in Big Spring, Texas. Big Spring is a great place for students who enjoy small town life. Get more details about the location of Howard College.
Get in touch with Howard College can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1001 Birdwell Lane, Big Spring, TX 79720 |
| Phone: | 4322645000 |
| Website: | www.howardcollege.edu |
In the latest year of available data, students from 20 majors graduated from Howard College. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 651 | NA |
| Nursing | 89 | $60,762 |
| Business & Commerce | 74 | $25,365 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 68 | NA |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 67 | $26,211 |
| Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 57 | $40,962 |
| Cosmetology | 51 | $21,303 |
| Allied Health Professions | 44 | $46,233 |
| Health/Medical Prep Programs | 31 | NA |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 21 | NA |
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
2,113 students took at least one online class at Howard College.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.