an associate degree in general education is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #55 out of 328 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best General Education Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 551 associate degrees in general education to qualified students.
Choosing a Great General Education School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of general education for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 general education students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of general education 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 general education to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general education related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general education 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 General Education Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study General Education in the Middle Atlantic Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in general education.
Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for an Associate in Education
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in general education has to check out Brookdale Community College. Brookdale Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the rural area of Lincroft.
Soon after graduating, education associate recipients generally make around $17,142 in their early careers.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in general education has to take a look at Rowan College of South Jersey Gloucester Campus. RCSJ is a moderately-sized public college located in the suburb of Sewell.
After graduation, education associate recipients typically earn an average of $18,207 at the beginning of their careers.
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).