If you pursue a associate degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #19 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in Wisconsin ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 282 associate degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Associate Degree
The design associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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 host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to design & applied arts students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of design & applied arts 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 much debt design & applied arts students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for design & applied arts students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in Wisconsin ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Madison Area Technical College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in design & applied arts. Madison College is a fairly large public college located in the large city of Madison.
Associate students who receive their degree from the design program make around $30,710 in the first couple years of their career.
Gateway Technical College is a wonderful option for students pursuing an associate degree in design & applied arts. Gateway Technical College is a large public college located in the small city of Kenosha.
Associate students who receive their degree from the design program earn around $29,734 in the first couple years of their career.
Western Technical College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in design & applied arts. Western Technical College is a small public college located in the small city of La Crosse.
Students who graduate with their associate from the design program report average early career income of $23,032.
Milwaukee Area Technical College is a wonderful decision for students interested in an associate degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Milwaukee, MATC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the design program state that they receive average early career income of $27,795.
Located in the large suburb of Pewaukee, WCTC is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Design & Applied Arts associate degree recipients from Waukesha County Technical College get an earnings boost of about $9,964 over the typical earnings of design & applied arts majors.
Located in the suburb of Appleton, FVTC is a public college with a large student population.
Associate recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Fox Valley Technical College earn $3,542 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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 design associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
