an associate degree in data processing is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #99 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 the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for data processing students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 116 associate degrees in data processing to qualified students.
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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 data processing students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of data processing 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 data processing 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 data processing related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for data processing 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 Data Processing Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.
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New Mexico State University - Dona Ana is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in data processing. NMSU Dona Ana is a moderately-sized public university located in the medium-sized city of Las Cruces.
Students who graduate with their associate from the data processing program state that they receive average early career wages of $38,559.
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
