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 16 schools in Missouri 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 6,407 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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
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.
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
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.
The liberal arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in Missouri.
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Any student who is interested in an associate degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at Columbia College. Columbia College Missouri is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the midsize city of Columbia.
Associate recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Columbia College get $19,496 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Metropolitan Community College - Kansas City is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the city of Kansas City, MCC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, liberal arts associate recipients generally make about $28,092 at the beginning of their careers.
It's difficult to beat St Charles Community College if you want to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. SCC is a moderately-sized public college located in the suburb of Cottleville.
Students who graduate with their associate from the liberal arts program report average early career income of $25,968.
It's hard to beat State Fair Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in liberal arts general studies. State Fair Community College is a small public college located in the town of Sedalia.
After graduation, liberal arts associate recipients typically earn around $26,386 at the beginning of their careers.
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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
