2023 Most Popular Associate Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in Virginia

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Design & Applied Arts is the 36th most popular major in the country with 36,301 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, design and applied arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,426 and had an average of $25,481 in loans still to pay off.

Across Virginia, there were 988 design and applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $31,842 and $26,331 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 141 design and applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,630 and $19,964 respectively.

This year’s “Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate” ranking looked at 6 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in design and applied arts. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have one of the most popular design and applied arts programs in the United States.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate” 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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate”.

Top 6 Most Popular Associate Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in Virginia

1

Northern Virginia Community College
Annandale, Virginia

#11 overall quality in Virginia

$21,281 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northern Virginia Community College. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate list. Northern Virginia Community College is a large public school situated in Annandale, Virginia. It awarded 63 associates’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Northern Virginia Community College

2

Tidewater Community College
Norfolk, Virginia

$22,526 Average Early-Career Earnings

$15,400 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Tidewater Community College. The school came in at #2 for the Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate. Norfolk, Virginia is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associates’s design degrees to 44 students in 2020-2021.

Full Tidewater Community College Design & Applied Arts Report

3

Virginia Western Community College
Roanoke, Virginia

Out of the 6 schools in the Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate that were part of this year’s ranking, Virginia Western Community College landed the #3 spot on the list. Virginia Western Community College is a medium-sized school located in Roanoke, Virginia that handed out 15 associates’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

Full Virginia Western Community College Design & Applied Arts Report

4

Central Virginia Community College
Lynchburg, Virginia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Central Virginia Community College. The school came in at #4 for the Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate. Central Virginia Community College is a small public school situated in Lynchburg, Virginia. It awarded 11 associates’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

Read more about Design & Applied Arts at Central Virginia Community College

5

Thomas Nelson Community College
Hampton, Virginia

Out of the 6 schools in the Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate that were part of this year’s ranking, Thomas Nelson Community College landed the #5 spot on the list. This medium-sized school is located in Hampton, Virginia, and it awarded 8 associates’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

Full TNCC Design & Applied Arts Report

6

The Art Institute of Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach, Virginia

The Art Institute of Virginia Beach ranked #6 on this year’s Most Well Attended Design Major in Virginia for an Associate list. The Art Institute of Virginia Beach is a small private for-profit school situated in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It awarded 9 associates’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

Full Ai Virginia Beach Design & Applied Arts Report

• Most Popular Associate Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in the Southeast Region
• Most Popular Associate Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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.