2024 Best Associate Degree Schools in District of Columbia

With all of the options you have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take when you want to pursue a college degree. College Factual has developed its Best Associate Degree Colleges in District of Columbia ranking as one thing you can use to help make this decision.

Jump to Any of the Following Sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing the Best School for You

Our analysis looked at 3 schools in District of Columbia to determine which ones have the best associate degree programs. Instead of depending on subjective information to rank the best schools, we focus on objective factors in our analysis. More specifically, the following explains what we consider and why.

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 an associate degree from the school. That is, everyone wants their degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Student Loan Borrowing

Students may also take on a lot of debt while working on their associate so we factor that into our rankings as well. When attending a school in District of Columbia, associate degree students accumulate an average of $25,412 in student debt before graduation. We consider this number in conjunction with average post-graduation earnings to gauge the difficulty associate recipients will have paying back their loans.

Additional Ranking Factors We Use

In addition to average post-graduation earnings and average student debt loads, we also look at a host of other factors to determining our Best Associate Degree Schools ranking. These factors include things like the educational resources, the demand associated with the school, whether or not the school offers online classes, and the student body caliber - just to name a few.

Find out more about our best schools ranking methodology

Other Rankings

Top Associate Degree Schools in District of Columbia

Learn more about these excellent schools below:

1

University of the District of Columbia
Washington, District of Columbia

205 Associate Degrees Awarded

$29,409 Average Early-Career Earnings

$22,700 Average Student Debt

Our analysis found University of the District of Columbia to be the best school for associate degrees in District of Columbia in this year’s ranking. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, the small public school awarded 205 diplomas to qualifed associate degree students in 2020-2021.

Graduates with a associate degree from University of the District of Columbia make an average of $29,409 per year during the early years of their career. The average amount of student debt accumulated by associate students is $22,700.

Full University of the District of Columbia Report

2

Trinity Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

11 Associate Degrees Awarded

$11,293 Average Student Debt

Out of the 3 associate degree schools in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, Trinity Washington University landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 11 associate degrees in 2020-2021.

Associate students leave the school with an average of $11,293 in student loans.

Read full report on Trinity Washington University

3

Strayer University - District of Columbia
Washington, District of Columbia

26 Associate Degrees Awarded

$42,325 Average Early-Career Earnings

$33,207 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Strayer University - District of Columbia. It ranked #3 on our 2024 Best Associate Degree Schools in District of Columbia list. Strayer University - District of Columbia is a small private for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 26 associate degrees in 2020-2021.

Those who receive a associate degree from Strayer University - District of Columbia go into careers with an average salary of $42,325 during the early years of their career. Associate students leave the school with an average of $33,207 in student loans.

Learn More About Strayer University - District of Columbia

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Notes and 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%.

More about our data sources and methodologies.