Best Online Associate in Communications

BEST ONLINE ASSOCIATE'S IN COMMUNICATIONS

Find top-ranked online associate in communications degree programs to prepare students to enter the workforce as technical writers, broadcast technicians, public relations specialists, and marketing managers.

Top 10 Online Associate in Communications

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  1. Anne Arundel Community College
  2. City College of San Francisco
  3. Lone Star College System
  4. Northern Virginia Community College
  5. College of Southern Nevada
  6. Montgomery College
  7. Pima Community College
  8. Brigham Young University–Idaho
  9. Campbellsville University
  10. Seminole State College of Florida
  1. Brigham Young University–Idaho 97%
  2. Campbellsville University 78%
  3. Andrew College 51%
  1. Coastline Community College 31 to 1
  2. Northern Virginia Community College 28 to 1
  3. Seminole State College of Florida 27 to 1
  4. City College of San Francisco 22 to 1
  5. Lone Star College System 21 to 1
  6. College of Southern Idaho 21 to 1
  7. College of Southern Nevada 21 to 1
  8. Monterey Peninsula College 21 to 1
  9. Brigham Young University–Idaho 20 to 1
  10. Northwest Mississippi Community College 20 to 1
  1. Campbellsville University $25,000
  2. Andrew College $18,214
  3. Colorado Christian University $17,476
  4. Montgomery College $8,070
  5. Bucks County Community College $7,920
  6. Anne Arundel Community College $7,590
  7. Southwestern Illinois College $6,120
  8. Community College of Baltimore County $5,784
  9. Northern Virginia Community College $5,412
  10. SUNY Broome Community College $5,088
  1. Colorado Christian University $13,474
  2. Campbellsville University $8,473
  1. SUNY Broome Community College
  2. Western Wyoming Community College
  3. Bristol Community College
  4. Northwest Mississippi Community College
  5. Washtenaw Community College
  6. Community College of Baltimore County
  7. College of Southern Idaho
  8. Andrew College
  9. Bucks County Community College
  10. Monterey Peninsula College
  1. Andrew College 51%
  2. Campbellsville University 78%
  3. Brigham Young University–Idaho 97%
  1. Andrew College 8 to 1
  2. Western Wyoming Community College 11 to 1
  3. Southeast Community College 12 to 1
  4. Campbellsville University 14 to 1
  5. Bucks County Community College 15 to 1
  6. Colorado Christian University 15 to 1
  7. Community College of Baltimore County 16 to 1
  8. Pima Community College 16 to 1
  9. Anne Arundel Community College 17 to 1
  10. Montgomery College 17 to 1
  1. Bristol Community College $576
  2. Coastline Community College $1,104
  3. Monterey Peninsula College $1,104
  4. Austin Community College District $2,010
  5. Pima Community College $2,088
  6. Seminole State College of Florida $2,393
  7. Western Wyoming Community College $2,520
  8. Southeast Community College $2,856
  9. Northwest Mississippi Community College $3,200
  10. College of Southern Nevada $3,293
  1. Campbellsville University $8,473
  2. Colorado Christian University $13,474

Key Takeaways

  • The associate degree in communications is an affordable way to get started on your college education. The typical associate degree will take about two years to complete.

  • Many community colleges and two-year schools offer both traditional and online degree programs for students pursuing their associate degree in communications.

  • Earning an online associate degree in communications can prepare you for a variety of entry level jobs in your field. Many students also continue into a bachelor’s degree program in communications or a related area.

Featured Programs

An associate degree in communications can help you get your foot in the door in the fields of business, human resources, marketing, public relations, and media. Strong communication skills are extremely valuable in a wide variety of professional sectors. Your technical writing, organizational communication, and public speaking skills will qualify you to work in a broad range of professional settings.

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Students completing the communication studies program will typically be required to complete 60 credits in subjects like intercultural communication, mass media, professional communications, communications law, and more. Students completing the associate degree program will typically begin with a focus on communication theory and communication ethics. The associate’s degree in communications also helps students hone their use of both their written communication skills and public speaking skills. Most community colleges offer both an on-campus and online associate degree in communications.

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Earning an online associate degree in communications will prepare you to work as a technical writer, broadcast technician, public relations specialist, marketing manager, and more. Many community college programs also offer a bachelor’s degree pathway for those looking to continue on to a four-year degree in communications.

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Learn more about how to major in communications.

Best Online Associate in Communications Degree Programs

An associate degree is a great way for many to start their educational journey, but you may want to also consider an online bachelor’s in communications.

Public Relations Specialists Salaries by Percentile in the U.S.

The following graph depicts the average salaries of Public Relations Specialists for each percentile in the U.S.

Source: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

SVG Attribution: Wikipedia

Total Employed: 242710
10%
15%
50%
15%
10%
bell-curve
37020486706280081960124620
10th Percentile25th Percentile75th Percentile90th Percentile

25 Best Online Associate in Communications Degree Programs

  1. #4

    Andrew College

    Cuthbert , GA

    Tuition + fees

    $18K

    Acceptance

    51%

    Graduation

    17%

    Student body

    <1K

    Median SAT/ACT

    1000/18

    Online Degrees

    AA in Communication
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: None Reported
    • Format: Online
  2. Tuition + fees

    $4K

    Graduation

    22%

    Student body

    8K

    Online Degrees

    AA in Liberal Arts

    Concentrations

    • Communication
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: None Reported
    • Format: Online
    AA in Technical Communication
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: None Reported
    • Format: Online
  3. Tuition + fees

    $3K

    Graduation

    31%

    Student body

    6K

    Online Degrees

    AA in Business Communications
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: None Reported
    • Format: Online
  4. #13

    Bristol Community College

    Fall River , MA

    Tuition + fees

    $5K

    Graduation

    21%

    Student body

    4K

    Online Degrees

    AA in Communication
    • Required Credits: 61-63
    • Completion time: 2 years
    • Format: Online
  5. Tuition + fees

    $9K

    Graduation

    9%

    Student body

    24K

    Online Degrees

    AS in Business, Government and Technical Communication

    Concentrations

    • Social Media Communications
    • Business and Government Communications
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: 2-3 years
    • Format: Online
    AA in Communications
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: 2-3 years
    • Format: Online
  6. Tuition + fees

    $4K

    Graduation

    38%

    Student body

    2K

    Online Degrees

    AA in Communication
    • Required Credits: 64
    • Completion time: 2 years
    • Format: Online
  7. Tuition + fees

    $1K

    Graduation

    33%

    Student body

    4K

    Online Degrees

    AA in General Studies

    Concentrations

    • Communication and Analytical Thinking
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: 2-3 years
    • Format: Online
  8. Tuition + fees

    $6K

    Graduation

    25%

    Student body

    4K

    Online Degrees

    AS in Visual Communication Arts
    • Required Credits: 62
    • Completion time: 2-3 years
    • Format: Online
  9. Tuition + fees

    $3K

    Graduation

    37%

    Student body

    6K

    Online Degrees

    AS in Marketing Communication And Public Relations Management
    • Required Credits: 60
    • Completion time: 2 years
    • Format: Online
  10. Tuition + fees

    $6K

    Graduation

    29%

    Student body

    6K

    Online Degrees

    AAS in Graphic Communications
    • Required Credits: 63-65
    • Completion time: 2 Years
    • Format: Online
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Online Communications Programs Looking for You

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Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require a time of adjustment. Although you’ll typically learn the same material and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, going online will require greater independence and responsibility than going in person. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, for harnessing the online educational technology that you’ll need to use, and for completing the course requirements, such as listening to lectures, learning lessons, reading texts, and handing in assignments. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take the initiative in building relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier than campus-based education is ease of access: all you need is a computer and an internet connection for online education. But even this seeming advantage of online education can be misleading: what’s easier, studying online with your computer and internet connection from your home where you need to cook, clean, pay rent, and maintain a job? Or studying on campus in a dorm where all your living needs are handled by the school, and college staff are there to help you every step of the way?

If you take the commute to campus out of the equation, campus-based education is easier. All the support structures available on campus for students, especially with real people to help you in person, are not there online. The demands on you as an online student will largely be the same as for your campus-based counterpart, but without the same helps.

In general, your online courses will present the same material and test you in the same way as traditional in-person courses. In many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning with remote educational technology for the first time, online college may be considerably more challenging than campus-based college. For a few insights on how to manage this new online experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable non-profit institutions on the one end and less-than-reputable for-profit institutions on the other end. Accreditation gives you the power to identify the more reputable actors in online education. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency indicating that a college or university is meeting standards of quality and credibility. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university that is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. For students seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that they opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree. For more on this important topic, check out our What is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter? College & University Accreditation Guide.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited (see the previous point), you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer of credits. In many cases, you will encounter some bureaucratic haggling in which some of your credits will be transferred and others may be refused. However, provided that you have attended an online school with recognized regional accreditation, you should be in good shape in transferring your credits earned online.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript, or resumé differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

Some employers may express the concern that because you did your degree online, you may need to transition from an online education experience to in-person workplace experience. But in an age of Covid, that concern seems much diminished. The fact is that much employment these days is remote. And collaboration increasingly happens online over Zoom. Many employers will therefore view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will be less than ideal for you (though depending on your circumstances, it may also be the only viable option).

While there is much in traditional campus-based education that can be substituted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing that can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual in-person classroom setting. As you transition to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face in getting the most out of your online classes is overcoming this difference between “real reality” and “virtual reality.” Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. Above all, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete at your own pace and on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Resources for Online College-Bound Students

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

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