If you pursue a associate degree in liberal arts general studies, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #1 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 31 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in Michigan ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 9,676 associate degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.
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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for liberal arts general studies students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools
The liberal arts 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 Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in Michigan.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities//liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies needs to take a look at Macomb Community College. Macomb Community College is a fairly large public college located in the city of Warren.
Soon after graduation, liberal arts associate recipients usually make around $29,791 in their early careers.
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies needs to take a look at Oakland Community College. Located in the suburb of Auburn Hills, Oakland Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Oakland Community College make $9,010 more than the standard liberal arts student.
Grand Rapids 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 medium-sized city of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Grand Rapids Community College receive an earnings boost of about $5,440 over the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
It's hard to beat Delta College if you want to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the rural area of University Center, Delta College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career wages of $28,721.
Located in the city of Detroit, WCCCD is a public college with a large student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Wayne County Community College District receive $2,366 more than the typical liberal arts student.
Kalamazoo Valley Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the medium-sized suburb of Kalamazoo.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Kalamazoo Valley Community College get an earnings boost of around $4,718 over the typical income of liberal arts general studies 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.