Animal Services isn't the most popular associate program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #148 in popularity out of 328 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Animal Services Associate Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 239 associate degrees in animal services during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Animal Services School for Your Associate Degree
The animal services associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality animal services program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 animal services students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of animal services 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 easy is it for animal services to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized animal services related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for animal services students working on their associate degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Animal Services Associate Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Animal Services in the United States
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for animal services students seeking a an associate degree.
North Shore Community College is a great decision for students interested in an associate degree in animal services. Located in the large suburb of Danvers, North Shore Community College is a public college with a small student population.
Animal Services associate degree recipients from North Shore Community College get an earnings boost of approximately $3,554 above the average earnings of animal services graduates.
It's hard to beat Morrisville State College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in animal services. Located in the rural area of Morrisville, Morrisville State College is a public college with a small student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the animal services program report average early career wages of $22,441.
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).
college factual
The animal services associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality animal services program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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