With all of the options you have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take when you want to pursue a college degree. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our Top Nevada Colleges for an Associate ranking - to help you make that decision.
We analyzed 5 colleges and universities across Nevada to determine which ones have the best associate degree programs. Instead of depending on subjective information to rank the best schools, we focus on objective factors in our analysis. More specifically, the following explains what we consider and why.
Higher Than Average Earnings
The average early-career salary of those graduating with a associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. A associate degree holder from a school in Nevada makes an average starting salary of $43,440, but the students who attended schools in the top 4 of our list make an average of $52,935.
Starting Salary ( 32780 to 64216 )
Taking Out Student Loans
Another factor that we look at to determine a school's ranking is the average debt load that students take on while they are working on their associate degree.
When attending a school in Nevada, associate degree students accumulate an average of $11,676 in student debt before graduation.
The average debt load at a particular school may not be bad, but it's an important thing to consider in conjunction with post-graduation earnings.
More Ranking Factors That Are Important
Our Best Associate Degree Schools considers other factors in addition to average post-graduation earnings and average student debt.
On a broad level, other factors that go into our rankings include such things as the demand of the school, the student body caliber, if the school has online options, and the educational resources provided by the school.
You may also want to narrow this list by location to find the best associate degree schools nearest you. In addition, we've put together a number of other college rankings that may help you in your search.
Our analysis found College of Southern Nevada to be the best school for associate degrees in Nevada in this year’s ranking. Las Vegas, Nevada is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associate degrees to 3,788 students in 2021-2022.
Graduates with a associate degree from CSN make an average of $39,182 per year during the early years of their career. Associate students leave the school with an average of $7,487 in student loans.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Great Basin College. It ranked #2 on our 2025 Best Associate Degree Schools in Nevada list. Great Basin College is located in Elko, Nevada and has a small student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 332 associate degrees to qualified graduate students.
A rank of #3 on our Best Associate Degree in Nevada list means Western Nevada College is a great place for students working on their degree. This small public school is located in Carson City, Nevada, and it awarded 553 associate degrees in 2021-2022.
During the early years of their career, associate degree graduates from WNC make an average of $49,116 a year.
A rank of #4 on our Best Associate Degree in Nevada list means Truckee Meadows Community College is a great place for students working on their degree. Reno, Nevada is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associate degrees to 1,405 students in 2021-2022.
During the early years of their career, associate degree graduates from Truckee Meadows Community College make an average of $47,881 a year. The average amount of student debt accumulated by associate students is $10,325.
Out of the 5 associate degree schools in Nevada that were part of this year’s ranking, Las Vegas College landed the #5 spot on the list. Las Vegas College is a small private for-profit school located in Las Vegas, Nevada that handed out 87 associate degrees in 2021-2022.
The average salary of a graduate with a associate degree from Las Vegas College is $75,561 during the early years of their career.
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 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).
Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
