Ranked #4 in popularity, criminal justice & corrections is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 5 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Associate Degree Schools in Virginia ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 465 associate degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a school'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.
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
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 criminal justice & corrections students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of criminal justice & corrections 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.
Student Debt - How easy is it for criminal justice & corrections to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for criminal justice & corrections students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools
The criminal justice 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 Criminal Justice & Corrections Associate Degree Schools in Virginia.
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Liberty University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in criminal justice & corrections. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Lynchburg.
Associate recipients from the criminal justice & corrections program at Liberty University get $8,369 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Tidewater Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Norfolk, Tidewater Community College is a public college with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career earnings of $26,013.
It's difficult to beat John Tyler Community College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in criminal justice & corrections. John Tyler Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Chester.
Soon after graduation, criminal justice associate recipients usually make around $34,171 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.
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
