Computer Programming is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #38 most popular associate degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Computer Programming Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 522 associate degrees in computer programming to qualified students.
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Game Programming & Development" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Game Programming & Development" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Computer Information Systems" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "BS in Computer Information Systems" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Database Design" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Database Design" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Web Design" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Web Design" 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 = 11
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 6 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 6
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 0 offers with relevance >= 1.0
DEBUG: Backfilling with 6 offers with relevance >= 0.9
Choosing a Great Computer Programming School for Your Associate Degree
The programming associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality programming 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to computer programming students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of computer programming students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
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 programming 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 programming related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for computer programming 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 Programming 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 = "computer-information-sciences//computer-programming"
El Centro College is a wonderful option for students interested in an associate degree in computer programming. Located in the large city of Dallas, El Centro College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Associate recipients from the computer programming degree program at El Centro College earn $14,371 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
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
The programming associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality programming program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
