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 reviewed 107 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for associate degree seekers in the field of liberal arts general studies. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 27,536 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 colleges for liberal arts general studies students working on their associate degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Liberal Arts General Studies in the Middle Atlantic Region
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for liberal arts general studies students seeking a an associate degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
21 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for an Associate in Liberal Arts
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at Suffolk County Community College. Located in the large suburb of Selden, Suffolk County Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn around $26,874 in their early career salary.
SUNY Westchester Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the large suburb of Valhalla, SUNY Westchester Community College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies program at SUNY Westchester Community College get $4,630 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the suburb of Largo, PGCC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Prince George's Community College get an earnings boost of about $5,535 over the average earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
CCBC is a fairly large public college located in the suburb of Baltimore.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Community College of Baltimore County make $2,065 more than the average liberal arts graduate.
UMGC is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Adelphi.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from University of Maryland Global Campus earn a boost of approximately $15,284 over the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
Community College of Philadelphia is a fairly large public college located in the city of Philadelphia.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Community College of Philadelphia make $6,910 more than the average liberal arts grad.
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Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region award.
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.