Ranked #9 in popularity, general business/commerce is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for general business/commerce students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 853 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. 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 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.
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 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
The general business school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best General Business/Commerce Associate Degree Schools in Pennsylvania.
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Every student who is interested in an associate degree in general business/commerce has to take a look at Community College of Philadelphia. Community College of Philadelphia is a fairly large public college located in the large city of Philadelphia.
Students who graduate with their associate from the general business program state that they receive average early career income of $35,122.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in general business/commerce has to look into Montgomery County Community College. Located in the suburb of Blue Bell, Montco is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
After graduating, general business associate recipients typically make about $36,274 in the first five years of their career.
Harrisburg Area Community College is a good choice for students pursuing an associate degree in general business/commerce. HACC is a fairly large public college located in the small city of Harrisburg.
Soon after graduating, general business associate recipients typically make around $36,708 at the beginning of their careers.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in general business/commerce needs to take a look at Northampton County Area Community College. Located in the large suburb of Bethlehem, Northampton Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Soon after graduating, general business associate recipients usually earn around $28,503 at the beginning of their careers.
LCCC is a medium-sized public college located in the rural area of Schnecksville.
Associate recipients from the general business/commerce program at Lehigh Carbon Community College make $10,546 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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