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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in Idaho to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts general studies students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 2,558 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
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 Idaho list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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North Idaho College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. NIC is a small public college located in the city of Coeur d'Alene.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program make an average of $27,940 for their early career.
Lewis - Clark State College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the small city of Lewiston, Lewis - Clark State College is a public college with a small student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Lewis - Clark State College receive an earnings boost of around $3,420 above the average earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
College of Eastern Idaho is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. CEI is a small public college located in the city of Idaho Falls.
Soon after graduation, liberal arts associate recipients generally earn an average of $29,507 in the first five years of their career.
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to look into Brigham Young University - Idaho. Located in the town of Rexburg, BYU - I is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, liberal arts associate recipients usually earn around $20,404 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Boise, Boise State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Boise State University receive $11,168 more than the standard 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.
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.
