Computer Information Systems is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #15 most popular major in the country. 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 5 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for computer information systems students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 354 associate degrees in computer information systems to qualified students.
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
Your choice of computer information systems for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality cis 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on computer information systems students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other computer information systems students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for computer information systems to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized computer information systems related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for computer information systems students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Computer Information Systems 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 Computer Information Systems Associate Degree Schools in Pennsylvania list to help you make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "computer-information-sciences//computer-information-systems-cis"
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in computer information systems has to check out Community College of Philadelphia. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Community College of Philadelphia is a public college with a large student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the cis program make an average of $21,223 for their early career.
Community College of Allegheny County is a good decision for students pursuing an associate degree in computer information systems. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, CCAC is a public college with a large student population.
Computer Information Systems associate degree recipients from Community College of Allegheny County get an earnings boost of around $9,119 over the average income of computer information systems majors.
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.
Your choice of computer information systems for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality cis program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
