Public Administration & Social Service is about average in terms of popularity for associate degrees programs. That is, it ranks #18 out of the 38 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Administration & Social Service Associate Degree Schools in New Jersey ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 229 associate degrees in public administration & social service during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "MBA in Public Administration" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MBA in Public Administration" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Human Services (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Human Services (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Doctorate - Human Services (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Doctorate - Human Services (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Human Services (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Human Services (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "PhD - Human Services (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "PhD - Human Services (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Human Services" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Human Services" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Business Administration - Public Administration" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Business Administration - Public Administration" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 14
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 11 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.5
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 11
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 0 offers with relevance >= 1.0
DEBUG: Backfilling with 0 offers with relevance >= 0.9
DEBUG: Backfilling with 11 offers with relevance >= 0.8
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 public administration & social service students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other public administration & social service students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
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 public administration & social service to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public administration & social service related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public administration & social service students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Public Administration & Social Service Schools
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Administration & Social Service Associate Degree Schools in New Jersey ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "social-services-public-administration"
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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).