Ranked #2 in popularity, nursing is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools in Hawaii to determine which ones were the best for nursing students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 117 associate degrees in nursing to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Associate Degree
The nursing associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on nursing students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of nursing students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt nursing 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 nursing related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for nursing students working on their associate degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in Hawaii list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Nursing in Hawaii
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in nursing.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in nursing needs to check out University of Hawaii Maui College. Located in the city of Kahului, UH Maui College is a public university with a small student population.
Nursing associate degree recipients from University of Hawaii Maui College get an earnings boost of around $16,200 above the average income of nursing majors.
Hawaii Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in nursing. Located in the town of Hilo, Hawaii CC is a public college with a small student population.
Soon after graduation, nursing associate recipients generally make around $69,990 in the first five years of their career.
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).
The nursing associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
