General Business/Commerce is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #9 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 6 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Business/Commerce Associate Degree Schools in New York ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 271 associate degrees in general business/commerce to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great General Business/Commerce School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of general business/commerce for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality general business program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a quality 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.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general business/commerce students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of general business/commerce 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 general business/commerce 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 business/commerce related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for general business/commerce students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank General Business/Commerce 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 Business/Commerce Associate Degree Schools in New York list to help you make the college decision.
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It's hard to beat SUNY Empire State College if you want to pursue an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the small suburb of Saratoga Springs, SUNY Empire is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the general business/commerce degree program at SUNY Empire State College earn $26,958 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Bryant & Stratton College - Albany is a wonderful choice for students interested in an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the suburb of Albany, Bryant & Stratton College - Albany is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the general business program earn about $30,059 for their early career.
Bryant & Stratton College - Online is a good choice for individuals interested in an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the large suburb of Orchard Park, Bryant & Stratton College - Online is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the general business program make around $30,059 for their early career.
Located in the large suburb of Liverpool, Bryant & Stratton College - Syracuse North is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the general business program make an average of $30,059 for their early 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).
Your choice of general business/commerce for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality general business program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
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