Music is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #53 most popular associate degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 5 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Music Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 256 associate degrees in music during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Choosing a Great Music School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of music for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality music 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 quality 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.
Average Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 music students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other music 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 music to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized music related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for music 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 Music Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Valencia College is a wonderful choice for students pursuing an associate degree in music. Located in the city of Orlando, Valencia College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Those music students who get their associate degree from Valencia College receive $2,289 more than the standard music grad.
Daytona State College is a good option for students interested in an associate degree in music. Located in the small city of Daytona Beach, Daytona State College is a public college with a fairly large student population.More information about a associate in music from Daytona State College
It is difficult to beat Full Sail University if you wish to pursue an associate degree in music. Located in the suburb of Winter Park, Full Sail University is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Music associate degree recipients from Full Sail University earn a boost of approximately $2,322 above the typical income of music 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.
Your choice of music for getting your associate degree school matters. Important measures of a quality music program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
