Online Computer science Associate degree
26 programs — 1 with federal cost data, the rest suppressed for small class sizes and listed after them, ordered by median debt against median earnings — lowest first.
Data last updated
Field
Hide for-profit colleges(2 programs)What our data shows about for-profit collegesAcross the creative fields on this site, students at private for-profit institutions borrow 27% more than students at public ones ($29,332 against $23,033) and earn 15% less four years after completing ($38,361 against $45,110).The combined effect is severe. Median debt at a for-profit equals 70% of a graduate’s annual earnings, against 47% at a public institution. And 10% of for-profit programs leave graduates owing more than they earn in a year — against 1% of public ones. Ten times the rate.This is a pattern across 212 for-profit programs, not a handful of outliers, and it holds in every creative field we cover. It does not mean no for-profit program is worth taking: some appear high in our best-value rankings, and this filter hides those too. It means the odds are materially worse, and the burden of proof sits with the school.Figures are medians computed from the College Scorecard and IPEDS data behind every table on this site.
| Institution | Programcredential and delivery | at completion | 4 yrs after | Median federal loan debt at completion, divided by median earnings four years later. It answers a single question: how much of one year’s income do you owe on the day you finish?Below 50% is generally considered manageable. Above 100% means graduates owe more than they earn in a year, and repayment on a standard ten-year plan starts to consume a serious share of income.Debt covers federal loans only, so real ratios are often worse. Both figures are medians — half of graduates fall on the wrong side of each. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Area Technical CollegeSD · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | — | $60,752 | — |
| American River CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Butte CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Carson-Newman UniversityTN · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Central Methodist University-College of Graduate and Extended StudiesMO · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Chandler-Gilbert Community CollegeAZ · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Cochise County Community College DistrictAZ · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Colorado Christian UniversityCO · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Computer scienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Copiah-Lincoln Community CollegeMS · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Dallas CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Finger Lakes Community CollegeNY · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Folsom Lake CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Foothill CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Houston Community CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Inter American University of Puerto Rico-AguadillaPR · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Ivy Tech Community CollegeIN · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Los Angeles Southwest CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer scienceAssociate degree · Online or on campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Mesa Community CollegeAZ · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Napa Valley CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Northampton County Area Community CollegePA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Ohlone CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| San Joaquin Delta CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Snow CollegeUT · PublicRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| The University of FindlayOH · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Treasure Valley Community CollegeOR · PublicRequest information → | Computer scienceAssociate degree · Online or on campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| University of Northwestern-St PaulMN · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Computer ScienceAssociate degree · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
Source: College Scorecard, Field of Study (retrieved September 2026)
How we are paid: StudyCreative earns revenue when readers ask to be connected with a school. No school pays to appear in these figures, to change them, or to be left out of them. Full disclosure.
One thing these figures cannot tell you
Earnings and debt are reported by the federal government at a four-digit program level, so a figure shown against “Computer science” covers every related program at that institution rather than one named degree. That pooling also spans delivery: where a school runs the same credential both online and on campus, the federal figures combine both sets of students. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. Full methodology.