2023 Best Value Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Education Associate Degree School for You
In 2020-2021, 327,871 education students received a degree or certificate, making the major the #4 most popular in the country.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 13 schools in the Plains States Region to see which associate degree programs offered the best value experiences for education students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
Top 10 Best Education Associate Degree Schools
Our analysis found Northeast Community College to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Plains States Region . Northeast is a moderately-sized public school located in the remote town of Norfolk.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Northeast are $5,010 per year.
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The excellent associate degree programs at Alexandria Technical & Community College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in the Plains States Region . ATCC is a small public school located in the remote town of Alexandria.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at ATCC are $5,910 a year.
In addition to its great value ranking, ATCC is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list.
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Out of the 13 schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Three Rivers College landed the # 3 spot on the list. Three Rivers College is a small public school located in the remote town of Poplar Bluff.
Three Rivers College undergraduate students pay an average of $6,510 in tuition and fees each year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend St Cloud Technical and Community College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. St Cloud Technical and Community College is a small public school located in the small city of Saint Cloud.
St Cloud Technical and Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $5,874 in tuition and fees each year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, St Cloud Technical and Community College also is in the top 10% of our Best Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Rasmussen University - North Dakota. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Rasmussen University - North Dakota is a small private for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Fargo.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Rasmussen University - North Dakota are $11,847 a year.
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Rasmussen University - Minnesota did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a associate degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of St. Cloud, Rasmussen University - Minnesota is a private for-profit college with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Rasmussen University - Minnesota are $13,558 per year.
Rasmussen University - Minnesota also claimed a spot on our Best Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.
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Rasmussen University - Kansas ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the rural area of Topeka, Rasmussen University - Kansas is a private for-profit college with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Rasmussen University - Kansas are $13,639 per year.
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Butler Community College landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value associate degree education programs. Butler CC is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of El Dorado.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Butler CC are $5,976 per year.
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Drury University - College of Continuing Professional Studies ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Education Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the city of Springfield, Drury University - CCPS is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Drury University - CCPS are $7,924 a year.
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College of Saint Mary did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a associate degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the large city of Omaha, Saint Mary is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Saint Mary are $21,800 per year.
Request InformationBest Education Colleges by State
Explore the best education schools for a specific state in the Plains States region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Kansas | 4,776 |
| Minnesota | 9,682 |
| Iowa | 3,392 |
| South Dakota | 1,045 |
| Missouri | 7,906 |
| Nebraska | 4,167 |
| North Dakota | 1,291 |
More Education Rankings in the Plains States Region
Majors Related to Education
Education Majors to Study
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 110,226 |
| Educational Administration | 46,469 |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 43,297 |
| Special Education | 36,792 |
| General Education | 29,810 |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 19,832 |
| Student Counseling | 13,858 |
| Instructional Media Design | 8,695 |
| Teaching English or French | 5,791 |
| Other Education | 4,858 |
| Teaching Assistants | 2,751 |
| Educational Assessment | 2,552 |
| Multilingual Education | 1,910 |
| Education Philosophy | 737 |
| International Education | 293 |
Most Popular Majors Related to Education
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Social Sciences | 205,984 |
| Psychology | 195,678 |
| Communication & Journalism | 120,571 |
| Family, Consumer & Human Sciences | 55,820 |
| History | 32,731 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 13 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 Horadrim.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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