Fashion Design is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #124 most popular associate degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 13 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Fashion Design Associate Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 862 associate degrees in fashion design to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Fashion Design School for Your Associate Degree
The fashion studies associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality fashion studies 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 good 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.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on fashion design students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other fashion design 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.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized fashion design related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for fashion design students working on their associate degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Fashion Design Associate Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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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 fashion studies associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality fashion studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
