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Best Value Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

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2023 Best Value Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

2 Colleges
$9,065 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$23,317 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 66,787 communication and media studies students received a degree or certificate, making the major the #10 most popular in the country.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

The Best Value Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 2 schools in the Southwest Region to see which associate degree programs offered the best value experiences for communications students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for communications majors pursuing a associate degree.

Best Southwest Region Schools for Affordable Quality for an Associate in Communication & Media Studies

Our analysis found Central New Mexico Community College to be the best value school for communication and media studies students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Southwest Region . CNM is a fairly large public school located in the city of Albuquerque.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CNM are $7,540 per year. The average amount in student loans that communications majors at CNM take out while working on their Associate Degree is $12,379.

Full Communication & Media Studies at Central New Mexico Community College Report

Out of the 2 schools in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Austin Community College District landed the # 2 spot on the list. Austin Community College District is a very large public school located in the large city of Austin.

Austin Community College District undergraduate students pay an average of $10,590 in tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Austin Community College District also did well on our Best Communication & Media Studies Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Communication & Media Studies at Austin Community College District Report

Best Communication & Media Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best communication and media studies schools for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Texas 4,091
Arizona 2,246
Oklahoma 325
New Mexico 129

Communication & Media Studies is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Relations & Advertising 21,099
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 17,669
Journalism 13,552
Communication & Journalism (Other) 1,128
Publishing 336

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 2 schools only.

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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