2025 Best General Education Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

General Education is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #55 most popular associate degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Education Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 239 associate degrees in general education during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on general education students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other general education students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt general education students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general education related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for general education students working on their associate degree.

More Ways to Rank General Education Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best General Education Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study General Education in the Great Lakes Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for general education students seeking a an associate degree.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for an Associate in Education

1

Ivy Tech Community College
Indianapolis, IN

159 Annual Graduates

$26,848 Median Starting Salary

Ivy Tech Community College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in general education. Ivy Tech Community College is a fairly large public college located in the city of Indianapolis.

Soon after graduation, education associate recipients typically earn around $26,848 in their early careers.

More information about a associate in general education from Ivy Tech Community College

2

Stark State College
North Canton, OH

36 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in general education needs to check out Stark State College. Stark State College is a moderately-sized public college located in the large suburb of North Canton.More information about a associate in general education from Stark State College

Best General Education Colleges by State

Explore the best general education schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Ohio	196	54
Michigan	192	6
Indiana	123	206
Illinois	119	1

View All Rankings >

General Education Related Rankings by Major

General Education is one of 14 different types of Education programs to choose from.

Education Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Education	239

Majors Similar to Education

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific	2,356
Teaching Assistants	129
Teacher Education Subject Specific	35
Educational Administration	21
Special Education	19
Other Education	8

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO. More about our data sources and methodologies.