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 15 schools in Iowa 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 4,435 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 good 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 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.
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 Iowa list to help you make the college decision.
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It's difficult to beat Des Moines Area Community College if you want to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Des Moines Area Community College earn $3,195 more than the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at Iowa Central Community College. Iowa Central Community College is a small public college located in the remote town of Fort Dodge.
Associate students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $23,747 for their early career.
Iowa Western Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the large suburb of Council Bluffs, Iowa Western Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
After graduating, liberal arts associate recipients typically make about $28,291 at the beginning of their careers.
Hawkeye Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Hawkeye Community College is a small public college located in the rural area of Waterloo.
Liberal Arts General Studies associate degree recipients from Hawkeye Community College get an earnings boost of about $2,063 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.
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.
