In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 556 associate degrees in sports kinesiology and physical education/fitness general during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General School for Your Associate Degree
The physical education associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality physical education 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a college'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.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on sports kinesiology and physical education/fitness general students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of sports kinesiology and physical education/fitness general students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
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.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized sports kinesiology and physical education/fitness general related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for sports kinesiology and physical education/fitness general students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General Schools
The physical education 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 Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region.
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Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General in the Southwest Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in sports kinesiology and physical education/fitness general.
Top Southwest Region Schools for an Associate in Physical Education
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One of 5 majors within the Health & Physical Education area of study, Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General has other similar majors worth exploring.
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 physical education associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality physical education program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
