Ranked #19 in popularity, design & applied arts is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual reviewed 88 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for associate degree seekers in the field of design & applied arts. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 7,578 associate degrees in design & applied arts during the <nil> academic year.
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Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Associate Degree
The design associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality design 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to design & applied arts students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of design & applied arts students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
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 design & applied arts 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 design & applied arts related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for design & applied arts students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Featured Design & Applied Arts Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
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Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in design & applied arts. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's hard to beat FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising - Los Angeles if you want to pursue an associate degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, FIDM Los Angeles is a private for-profit school with a small student population.
Soon after graduation, design associate recipients generally make around $24,393 at the beginning of their careers.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in design & applied arts has to check out Fashion Institute of Technology. FIT SUNY is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of New York.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the design program make around $14,361 for their early career.
It is hard to beat The New School if you wish to pursue an associate degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of New York, New School University is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Those design & applied arts students who get their associate degree from The New School make $17,521 more than the typical design student.
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in design & applied arts has to take a look at Madison Area Technical College. Madison College is a large public college located in the large city of Madison.
Associate recipients from the design & applied arts major at Madison Area Technical College get $3,591 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of McKinney, Collin County Community College District is a public college with a very large student population.
Associate recipients from the design & applied arts program at Collin County Community College District earn $6,337 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
JCCC is a large public college located in the midsize city of Overland Park.
Associate recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Johnson County Community College earn $4,911 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Gateway Technical College is a fairly large public college located in the small city of Kenosha.
Design & Applied Arts associate degree recipients from Gateway Technical College receive an earnings boost of about $2,615 above the typical earnings of design & applied arts majors.
Palm Beach State College is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Lake Worth.
Design & Applied Arts associate degree recipients from Palm Beach State College get an earnings boost of about $9,649 above the average earnings of design & applied arts graduates.
GTC is a medium-sized public college located in the large suburb of Lawrenceville.
Design & Applied Arts associate degree recipients from Gwinnett Technical College receive an earnings boost of around $5,732 over the typical earnings of design & applied arts graduates.
Rest of the Top Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools award.
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.
The design associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
