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Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

11 Colleges
$8,295 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$23,224 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree School for You

Design & Applied Arts is the #36 most popular major in the country with 36,301 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 11 schools in the Plains States Region to see which associate degree programs offered the best value experiences for design 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 Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools

Our analysis found Alexandria Technical & Community College to be the best value school for design and applied arts students who want to pursue a associate degree in the Plains States Region . ATCC is a small public school located in the town of Alexandria.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at ATCC are $5,910 per year. After completing their Associate Degree, design graduates from ATCC carry an average student debtload of $14,460.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, ATCC also is in the top 15% of our Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Metropolitan Community College. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the large city of Omaha, MCC is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at MCC are $4,680 per year. On average, design graduates from MCC take out $13,937 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

MCC also claimed a spot on our Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

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#3

Johnson County Community College

Overland Park, KS

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Johnson County Community College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the midsize city of Overland Park, JCCC is a public college with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at JCCC are $5,352 per year. After completing their Associate Degree, design graduates from JCCC carry an average student debtload of $14,972.

JCCC also claimed a spot on our Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools in this category.

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#4

Century College

White Bear Lake, MN

The excellent associate degree programs at Century College helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value design and applied arts schools in the Plains States Region . Century College is a moderately-sized public school located in the suburb of White Bear Lake.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Century College are $5,907 a year. While working on their Associate Degree, design majors at Century College accumulate an average of around $18,527 in student debt.

In addition to its great value ranking, Century College is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list.

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#5

Bismarck State College

Bismarck, ND

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Bismarck State College. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. BSC is a small public school located in the city of Bismarck.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at BSC are $6,930 a year. On average, design graduates from BSC take out $12,189 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

BSC also made our Best Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list, coming in at #2.

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Minneapolis Community and Technical College ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Minneapolis Community and Technical College is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Community and Technical College undergraduate students pay an average of $5,906 in tuition and fees each year. Design majors at Minneapolis Community and Technical College take out an average of $30,566 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

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#7

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, SD

University of South Dakota came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Located in the distant town of Vermillion, USD is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at USD are $12,942 per year.

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#8

Saint Louis Community College

Saint Louis, MO

Saint Louis Community College ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, Saint Louis Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Saint Louis Community College are $7,155 per year. The average amount in student loans that design majors at Saint Louis Community College take out while working on their Associate Degree is $16,318.

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Des Moines Area Community College came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Located in the large suburb of Ankeny, DMACC is a public school with a very large student population.

DMACC undergraduate students pay an average of $10,440 in tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that design majors at DMACC take out while working on their Associate Degree is $16,657.

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Stevens - The Institute of Business & Arts ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the city of Saint Louis, Siba is a private for-profit college with a fairly small student population.

Siba undergraduate students pay an average of $13,680 in tuition and fees each year.

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Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design and applied arts schools for a specific state in the Plains States region.

State Degrees Awarded
Missouri 432
Minnesota 533
Kansas 229
Iowa 481
Nebraska 223
North Dakota 36
South Dakota 57

One of 10 majors within the area of study, design and applied arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 37,413
Music 25,910
Drama & Theater Arts 17,341
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 16,778
General Visual & Performing Arts 6,355

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 11 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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