Find Affordable College Courses

What Do You Want to Study?

Best Value Physical Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

2023 Best Value Physical Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

4 Colleges
$5,040 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$20,992 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Physical Sciences Associate Degree School for You

Out of all the majors we analyze each year, physical sciences was ranked #19 in the country. In fact 50,306 degrees and certificates were handed out in 2020-2021.

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 assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Physical Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 4 schools in the Southwest Region to see which associate degree programs offered the best value experiences for physical sciences 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.

Best Southwest Region Schools for Affordable Quality for an Associate in Physical Sciences

Our 2023 rankings named University of New Mexico - Taos Campus the best value school in the Southwest Region for physical sciences students working on their associate degree. Located in the rural area of Ranchos de Taos, UNM Taos is a public school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UNM Taos are $4,752 per year.

Full Physical Sciences at University of New Mexico - Taos Campus Report

Request Information

The excellent associate degree programs at University of New Mexico - Valencia County Campus helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value physical sciences schools in the Southwest Region . UNM Valencia is a small public school located in the rural area of Los Lunas.

UNM Valencia undergraduate students pay an average of $5,130 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Request Information

The excellent associate degree programs at University of New Mexico - Gallup Campus helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value physical sciences schools in the Southwest Region . UNM Gallup is a small public school located in the rural area of Gallup.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UNM Gallup are $4,708 per year.

Full Physical Sciences at University of New Mexico - Gallup Campus Report

Request Information

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of New Mexico - Los Alamos Campus. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Physical Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list. Located in the town of Los Alamos, UNM Los Alamos is a public school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at UNM Los Alamos are $5,568 a year.

Read More…

Request Information

Best Physical Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best physical sciences schools for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Arizona 1,469
Texas 2,811
New Mexico 288
Oklahoma 558

Physical Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Chemistry 21,239
Physics 13,674
Geological & Earth Sciences 7,821
General Physical Sciences 3,823
Astronomy & Astrophysics 1,375
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology 1,140
Materials Sciences 658
Other Physical Science 538
Physics and Astronomy 38

Majors Similar to Physical Sciences

Related Major Annual Graduates
Computer & Information Sciences 254,454
Engineering 198,468
Biological & Biomedical Sciences 177,778
Engineering Technologies 85,188
Mathematics & Statistics 52,396

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 4 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 NASA.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Find Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited colleges across the U.S.