2022 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Information Science in Pennsylvania

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value IS Schools for an Associate in Pennsylvania” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Information Science is the 56th most popular major in the country with 18,368 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, information science graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $58,848 and had an average of $32,600 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 559 information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $60,207 and $28,996 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 18 information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value IS Schools for an Associate in Pennsylvania” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in information science. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent information science programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the information science program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Value IS Schools for an Associate in Pennsylvania” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value IS Schools for an Associate in Pennsylvania

The colleges and universities below are the best for pennsylvania associate degree is students.

Top 2 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Information Science in Pennsylvania

#1

University of Pittsburgh - Bradford

Bradford, Pennsylvania

#2 in overall quality

$18,906 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value IS Schools for an Associate in Pennsylvania that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Pittsburgh - Bradford landed the #1 spot on the list. Pitt Bradford is a public institution located in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The school has a small population, and it awarded 1 associates’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our pennsylvania associate degree is students list, Pitt Bradford has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Information Science Associate Degree Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Pitt Bradford is $18,906 for pennsylvania associate degree is students.

The low student loan default rate of 3.5% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read full report on Information Science at University of Pittsburgh - Bradford

#2

Elizabethtown College

Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania

#1 in overall quality

$26,937 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value IS Schools for an Associate in Pennsylvania that were part of this year’s ranking, Elizabethtown College landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 1 diplomas to qualified associates’s IS students in 2019-2020.

Etown did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Information Science Associate Degree Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The yearly cost to attend Etown is $26,937 for Pennsylvania Associate Degree IS students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Information Science at Elizabethtown College

• Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Information Science in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Information Science

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 The Opte Project.

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