2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina

Design & Applied Arts is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #19 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 352 associate degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Associate Degree

Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

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 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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on design & applied arts students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other design & applied arts students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
• 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 easy is it for design & applied arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts 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 Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in North Carolina

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for design & applied arts students seeking a an associate degree.

Top North Carolina Schools for an Associate in Design

1

Wake Technical Community College
Raleigh, NC

79 Annual Graduates

Wake Technical Community College is a wonderful decision for students interested in an associate degree in design & applied arts. Located in the suburb of Raleigh, Wake Technical Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.More information about a associate in design & applied arts from Wake Technical Community College

2

Guilford Technical Community College
Jamestown, NC

36 Annual Graduates

$24,827 Median Starting Salary

Guilford Technical Community College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in design & applied arts. Guilford Technical Community College is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Jamestown.

Soon after graduation, design associate recipients generally earn an average of $24,827 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a associate in design & applied arts from Guilford Technical Community College

3

Forsyth Technical Community College
Winston-Salem, NC

17 Annual Graduates

$29,715 Median Starting Salary

Forsyth Technical Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in design & applied arts. Forsyth Tech is a medium-sized public college located in the large city of Winston-Salem.

Students who graduate with their associate from the design program report average early career wages of $29,715.

More information about a associate in design & applied arts from Forsyth Technical Community College

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Mississippi	143	52
Georgia	121	159
Florida	121	315
Arkansas	105	12
Tennessee	102	87
Virginia	97	141
West Virginia	92	8
Kentucky	90	18
Louisiana	80	34
South Carolina	77	80
Alabama	69	33

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Design & Applied Arts Related Rankings by Major

One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Design & Applied Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Design Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Commercial & Advertising Art	188
Game & Interactive Media Design	106
Interior Design	43
Graphic Design	15

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	15
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	6
Fine & Studio Arts	6

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.