an associate degree in computer software & applications is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #54 out of 328 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for computer software & applications students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 95 associate degrees in computer software & applications to qualified students.
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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 software & applications students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of computer software & applications 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 much debt computer software & applications 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 software & applications related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for computer software & applications students working on their associate degree.
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 Software & Applications Associate Degree Schools in Pennsylvania list to help you make the college decision.
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Learn the applied programming skills needed to fill in-demand tech roles when you earn your online AS in Computer Science at Southern New Hampshire University.
Pittsburgh Technical College is a wonderful choice for students interested in an associate degree in computer software & applications. Pittsburgh Technical College is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Oakdale.
Soon after graduating, computer software associate recipients usually make around $25,671 in their early careers.
Harrisburg Area Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in computer software & applications. Located in the small city of Harrisburg, HACC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Computer Software & Applications associate degree recipients from Harrisburg Area Community College get an earnings boost of approximately $4,807 over the average income of computer software & applications graduates.
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).