If you pursue a associate degree in health & physical education, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #25 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Health & Physical Education Associate Degree Schools in Texas ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 418 associate degrees in health & physical education during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 Texas.
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South Texas College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in health & physical education. South Texas College is a very large public college located in the city of McAllen.
After graduating, phys ed associate recipients generally make around $22,699 in the first five years of their career.
It is difficult to beat El Paso Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in health & physical education. El Paso Community College is a fairly large public college located in the large city of El Paso.
Students who graduate with their associate from the phys ed program state that they receive average early career wages of $21,750.
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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
