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We’re traveling south today for our Community College Challenge to walk the halls of Valencia Community College in Florida. Our fourth school lies in the heart of Orlando’s entertainment and tourism industries, surrounded by theme parks, Disney World, and lots of sunshine. 

Valencia has some pretty impressive stats under its belt. About 30 percent of students transfer to 4 year college—4 out of 5 go on to the selective University of Central Florida. Nearly half of the students at Valencia are Hispanic or African American, and 41 percent receive Pell Grants. 

According to Dr. Sandy Shugart, president of Valencia, there was a time when community college were viewed as colleges of last chance but that is all in the past. 

To learn more about Valencia and to see how community colleges in your state stack up, check out our interactive map and website below.

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Map from The Takeaway's Community College Challenge. Click on the map to interact with the data.

(Tyler Adams for The Takeaway)