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 13 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 592 associate degrees in design & applied arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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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 combination 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 the Plains States Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Take the first step toward a career of visual expression and doing what you love with this online associate degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Johnson County Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in design & applied arts. JCCC is a large public college located in the medium-sized city of Overland Park.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the design program earn around $32,030 for their early career.
It is difficult to beat Des Moines Area Community College if you want to pursue an associate degree in design & applied arts. DMACC is a very large public college located in the suburb of Ankeny.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the design program make an average of $25,265 for their early career.
Minneapolis Community and Technical College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Community and Technical College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Design & Applied Arts associate degree recipients from Minneapolis Community and Technical College get an earnings boost of approximately $8,058 over the average earnings of design & applied arts majors.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in design & applied arts has to check out Alexandria Technical & Community College. ATCC is a small public college located in the remote town of Alexandria.
After graduating, design associate recipients generally make an average of $31,830 at the beginning of their careers.
Century College is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of White Bear Lake.
Design & Applied Arts associate degree recipients from Century College get an earnings boost of around $7,678 above the average income of design & applied arts majors.
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.
