2022 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in the Southwest Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Communication & Media Studies is one of the most popular majors in the nation, ranking 9th of all the majors we analyze. In 2019-2020, 68,079 degrees were awarded to students with this major. In 2017-2018, communication and media studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $32,728 and had an average of $24,931 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Southwest region, there were 6,313 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $32,423 and $24,273 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 294 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,605 and $16,886 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in communication and media studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent communication and media studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the communication and media studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Communication & Media Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for southwest region associate degree communications students.

Top 3 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in the Southwest Region

#1

Central New Mexico Community College

Albuquerque, New Mexico

#1 in overall quality

$3,429 Average Net Price

$29,685 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Central New Mexico Community College landed the #1 spot on the list. Albuquerque, New Mexico is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associates’s communications degrees to 82 students in 2019-2020.

CNM also took the #1 spot in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking. It costs about $3,429 for Southwest Region Associate Degree Communications students per year to attend CNM.

Full Central New Mexico Community College Communication & Media Studies Report

#2

Tulsa Community College

Tulsa, Oklahoma

#2 in overall quality

$6,078 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Tulsa Community College. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region. Tulsa Community College is a fairly large public school situated in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It awarded 14 associates’s communications degrees in 2019-2020.

Tulsa Community College also made our “Best Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend Tulsa Community College is $6,078 for southwest region associate degree communications students.

Read more about Communication & Media Studies at Tulsa Community College

#3

Cameron University

Lawton, Oklahoma

#3 in overall quality

$7,952 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Cameron University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Communications Schools for an Associate in the Southwest Region. Located in Lawton, Oklahoma, this small public school handed out 10 degrees to qualified associates’s communications students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our southwest region associate degree communications students list, Cameron University has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Cameron University is $7,952 for Southwest Region Associate Degree Communications students.

Full Cameron University Communication & Media Studies Report

• Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to UNU-WIDER from Helsinki, Finland.

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