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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 25 schools in Arkansas to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts general studies students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,510 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
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 take this into account we include 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 schools for liberal arts general studies students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools
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 Arkansas list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the town of De Queen, UA Cossatot is a public university with a small student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas receive $2,700 more than the standard liberal arts student.
It is difficult to beat NorthWest Arkansas Community College if you want to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. NWACC is a medium-sized public college located in the city of Bentonville.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies major at NorthWest Arkansas Community College get $3,856 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Arkansas - Pulaski Technical College is a great option for students interested in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the small city of North Little Rock, UA Pulaski Tech is a public university with a small student population.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their associate degree from University of Arkansas - Pulaski Technical College receive $3,549 more than the average liberal arts grad.
Located in the remote town of Russellville, ATU is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Arkansas Tech University earn a boost of about $9,445 over the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
