If you plan on getting your associate degree in visual & performing arts, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #9 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Visual & Performing Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 379 associate degrees in visual & performing arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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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 much a school focuses on visual & performing arts students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of visual & performing arts students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
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 visual & performing arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized visual & performing arts related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for visual & performing arts students working on their associate degree.
The visual & performing arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Visual & Performing Arts Associate Degree Schools in North Carolina.
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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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
