Ranked #15 in popularity, computer information systems is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools in New Jersey to determine which ones were the best for computer information systems students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 351 associate degrees in computer information systems during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Software Engineering (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Software Engineering (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Software Engineering (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Software Engineering (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 8
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 8 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 8
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 4 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Choosing a Great Computer Information Systems School for Your Associate Degree
The cis associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
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 Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 computer information systems students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of computer information systems 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 computer information systems 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 computer information systems related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for computer information systems 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 Computer Information Systems Associate Degree Schools in New Jersey ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "computer-information-sciences//computer-information-systems-cis"
It is difficult to beat Brookdale Community College if you want to pursue an associate degree in computer information systems. Located in the large suburb of Lincroft, Brookdale Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the computer information systems major at Brookdale Community College earn $5,060 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat Union County College if you want to pursue an associate degree in computer information systems. Located in the suburb of Cranford, Union County College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Soon after graduation, cis associate recipients typically make around $18,160 in the first five years of their career.
It's hard to beat Passaic County Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in computer information systems. PCCC is a moderately-sized public college located in the large suburb of Paterson.
Those computer information systems students who get their associate degree from Passaic County Community College earn $4,579 more than the typical cis grad.
Hudson County Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in computer information systems. Located in the city of Jersey City, HCCC is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the cis program make around $25,735 in the first couple years of their 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.