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.
College Factual looked at 44 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 17,327 associate degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.
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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 school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection 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 complete 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
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 the Rocky Mountains Region list to help you make the college decision.
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Utah State University is a wonderful choice for students interested in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. USU is a very large public university located in the small city of Logan.
Students who graduate with their associate from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career income of $28,782.
It's difficult to beat Weber State University if you wish to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the small city of Ogden, WSU is a public university with a very large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Weber State University earn a boost of about $4,426 over the average income of liberal arts general studies majors.
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to check out Utah Valley University. UVU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Orem.
Soon after graduating, liberal arts associate recipients usually earn around $28,089 in the first five years of their career.
Salt Lake Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Salt Lake Community College is a fairly large public college located in the suburb of Salt Lake City.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Salt Lake Community College receive an earnings boost of approximately $6,065 above the average earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
Located in the large suburb of Westminster, FRCC is a public college with a very large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Front Range Community College get an earnings boost of about $5,284 over the average earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
CCA is a moderately-sized public college located in the city of Aurora.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Community College of Aurora earn $8,990 more than the average liberal arts student.
Located in the remote town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado Mountain College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Colorado Mountain College earn $2,812 more than the average liberal arts graduate.
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:
