College Navigator reports a total of 42 community colleges in Arizona that offer two-year associate degree programs.
For the 2022-23 academic year, it’s estimated that Arizona in-district community college students paid an average of $2,600 in educational costs.
The National Center of Education Statistics reports that 452,493 students enrolled in a two-year associate program received financial aid for the 2019-20 school year.
This list features some of the best community colleges in Arizona. Each school featured is a nonprofit, accredited institution — either public or private — with a high standard of academic quality for post-secondary institutions. We included small, midsize, and large colleges as well as trade, technical, and vocational programs. Next, we compared this comprehensive list to a list of aggregated college rankings from reputable publications like the U.S. News & World Report among others to simplify a student’s college search. We pored through these rankings so students don’t have to.
The colleges on our list are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a reputable organization that examines objectives, quality and overall effectiveness of education programs throughout the United States.
We evaluated each school on tuition costs, admission, retention and graduation rates, faculty, and reputation as well as the student resources provided for students. Then we calculated the Intelligent Score on a scale of 0 to 100. Read more about our ranking methodology.
If you’re seeking a high-paying job in Arizona that requires only an associate degree, air traffic controller is first on the list. Radiation therapists, nuclear medicine technologists, and diagnostic medical sonographers are also in the top five when it comes to high-paying careers for two-year college graduates.
Researching the number of projected job openings in Arizona can help you choose an associate degree program. Preschool teachers and paralegals are expected to be in high demand between 2021 to 2031, followed by physical therapist assistants and radiologic technologists.
When deciding on a community college program, you may also want to know which associate-level jobs are on the decline in Arizona. Forest and conservation technicians are ranked as having the highest rate of decline. Embalmers and legal support workers are also on the list of fastest-declining jobs.
Researching financial aid opportunities is an important part of choosing the right community college. We’ve curated a list of federal and state websites where you’ll find valuable information about financial aid opportunities for associate degree students in Arizona.