Communication & Journalism isn't the most popular associate program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #17 in popularity out of 38 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Communication & Journalism Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 591 associate degrees in communication & journalism during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Communications & Media Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Communications & Media Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Communications & Media Graduate Certificate Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Communications & Media Graduate Certificate Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Communications & Media Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Communications & Media Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Communication" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Communication" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MA in Communication" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MA in Communication" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Communication - New Media" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Communication - New Media" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Communication - Public Relations" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Communication - Public Relations" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MA in Communication - New Media & Marketing" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MA in Communication - New Media & Marketing" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Marketing - New Media & Communications" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Marketing - New Media & Communications" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 9
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 3 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.5
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 3
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 3 offers with relevance >= 1.0
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 communication & journalism students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other communication & journalism 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 much debt communication & journalism 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 communication & journalism related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for communication & journalism 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 Communication & Journalism Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "communication-journalism-media"
With an online bachelor's degree in communication you'll have the opportunity to pursue a multitude of career options. From journalism and social media, to public relations, advertising and mass media, earning your BA in communication will allow you to strategize and communicate your ideas.
Effective communicators are always in demand, no matter the industry. The Master's in Communication degree from Southern New Hampshire University is a cutting-edge program designed for forward-thinking professionals.
Explore the digital frontier as it relates to today's communications strategies with this specialized online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
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).
by our College Data Analytics Team
