Liberal Arts General Studies is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #1 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 44 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 15,266 associate degrees in liberal arts general studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Associate Degree
The liberal arts associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts 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
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on liberal arts general studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of liberal arts general studies 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 easy is it for liberal arts general studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
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.
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 Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.
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Lincoln Land Community College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the rural area of Springfield, LLCC is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies program at Lincoln Land Community College make $6,931 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It is hard to beat Waubonsee Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the rural area of Sugar Grove, Waubonsee is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
After graduating, liberal arts associate recipients typically make around $27,597 in their early careers.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at William Rainey Harper College. Harper College is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Palatine.
Associate students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program make around $27,619 for their early career.
College of Lake County is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. College of Lake County is a large public college located in the large suburb of Grayslake.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from College of Lake County get an earnings boost of approximately $6,180 above the average earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
Located in the large suburb of East Peoria, ICC is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies major at Illinois Central College get $2,612 more than the average 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.
The liberal arts associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
