Health & Physical Education is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #25 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 3 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Health & Physical Education Associate Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,688 associate degrees in health & physical education to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Health & Physical Education School for Your Associate Degree
The phys ed associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality phys ed 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 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.
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 many resources a school devotes to health & physical education students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of health & physical education 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 health & physical education to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized health & physical education related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for health & physical education students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Health & Physical Education Schools
The phys ed 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 Health & Physical Education Associate Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.
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Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in health & physical education needs to take a look at Riverside City College. Located in the city of Riverside, Riverside City College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Soon after graduating, phys ed associate recipients usually earn around $25,516 in their early careers.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in health & physical education has to take a look at Mt. San Antonio College. Located in the large suburb of Walnut, Mt. SAC is a public college with a very large student population.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the phys ed program make around $19,869 in their early career salary.
International Sports Sciences Association is a good option for individuals pursuing an associate degree in health & physical education. ISSA is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the midsize suburb of Carpinteria.
Those health & physical education students who get their associate degree from International Sports Sciences Association receive $16,092 more than the typical phys ed 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 phys ed associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality phys ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
