According to College Navigator, there are 69 institutions in Pennsylvania that grant students associate degrees after two years.
Data provided by College Board shows that the average Pennsylvania student paid approximately $5,793 in tuition and fees at in-district community colleges during the 2022-23 school year.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 452,493 students enrolled in two-year programs in the United States received some type of financial aid for the 2019-20 school year.
This list features some of the best community colleges in Pennsylvania. 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 Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation (MSCHE), a reputable organization that examines objectives, quality and overall effectiveness of education programs in the Mid-Atlantic region of 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.
One of the most important factors to consider when reviewing community colleges is your career potential and salary goals. In 2021, the highest paying careers for associate degree holders in Pennsylvania were air traffic controllers, nuclear technicians, funeral home managers, radiation therapists, and aerospace engineering technicians.
Associate degree holders looking for jobs in Pennsylvania should consider which fields tend to have high employment rates. The five careers with the most job openings for the next decade are preschool teachers (excluding special education), paralegals and legal assistants, physical therapist assistants, radiologic technologists, and computer network support specialists.
While some jobs are expected to increase in popularity in the upcoming decade, others are projected to decline. The occupations expected to undergo the greatest decline for associate degree holders in Pennsylvania are desktop publishers, nuclear technicians, mechanical drafters, and human resources assistants (excluding payroll and timekeeping).
While researching community colleges, keep in mind which financial aid opportunities are available to you. To help you find funding, we’ve created a list of federal and state resources that connect associate degree students to grants, scholarships, and financial aid opportunities in Pennsylvania.