Ranked #1 in popularity, liberal arts general studies is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. 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 25 schools in Washington to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts general studies students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 12,848 associate degrees in liberal arts general studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "General Studies (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "General Studies (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "AA in Liberal Arts" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "AA in Liberal Arts" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in General Studies" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in General Studies" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 4
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 2 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 2
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 2 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of liberal arts general studies for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 take this into account we consider a college'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.
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 many resources a school devotes to liberal arts general studies students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other liberal arts general studies 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 much debt liberal arts general studies 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 liberal arts general studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for liberal arts general studies students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in Washington ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities//liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
Bellevue College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the midsize city of Bellevue, BC is a public college with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the liberal arts program report average early career income of $29,666.
It is hard to beat Highline College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Highline is a moderately-sized public college located in the suburb of Des Moines.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies program at Highline College get $2,381 more than the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at Pierce College-Fort Steilacoom. Pierce College-Fort Steilacoom is a moderately-sized public college located in the small city of Lakewood.
Soon after graduating, liberal arts associate recipients generally make about $24,101 in their early careers.
It's hard to beat Spokane Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the medium-sized city of Spokane, Spokane Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Spokane Community College get $5,673 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Everett, Everett Community College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Everett Community College earn $2,083 more than the average liberal arts student.
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 liberal arts general studies for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
