Ranked #21 in popularity, dental support services is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for dental support services students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 125 associate degrees in dental support services during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Dental Support Services School for Your Associate Degree
The dental support 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. 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 include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host 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 much a school focuses on dental support services students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of dental support services 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 dental support services 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 dental support services related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for dental support services students working on their associate degree.
The dental support school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Dental Support Services Associate Degree Schools in Virginia.
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Every student who is interested in an associate degree in dental support services has to take a look at Northern Virginia Community College. Northern Virginia Community College is a very large public college located in the large suburb of Annandale.
Associate recipients from the dental support services degree program at Northern Virginia Community College earn $16,669 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Virginia Western Community College is a great choice for individuals pursuing an associate degree in dental support services. Virginia Western Community College is a moderately-sized public college located in the small city of Roanoke.
Associate recipients from the dental support services degree program at Virginia Western Community College earn $6,972 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat ECPI University if you wish to pursue an associate degree in dental support services. Located in the city of Virginia Beach, ECPI University is a private for-profit university with a large student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the dental support program earn about $28,544 in their early career salary.
Wytheville Community College is a wonderful decision for students pursuing an associate degree in dental support services. WCC is a small public college located in the town of Wytheville.
After graduation, dental support associate recipients generally make an average of $55,931 in their early careers.
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.
The dental support 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
