Associates vs. Bachelors: What you should know about college degrees

 Associates vs. Bachelors: What you should know about college degrees

Written by: Elizabeth Ehlert 

For the vast majority of high school upperclassmen, looking at colleges or planning to look at colleges has been/will be a very large part of their lives for the next year or two up until graduation. But these undergraduate options are not limited to a four-year college. There are quite a few differences between obtaining an associate’s degree vs a bachelor’s degree directly out of high school that graduates should consider when making plans for their career and life. 

First off, an associate’s degree can be completed in as little as two years as an undergraduate, but this doesn’t automatically make it the worse option, believe it or not! Depending on the job requirements, this degree can be more than enough to sustain a person comfortably for however long they wish to take advantage of it. Associates degrees are much cheaper than a bachelor's degree, and as they are primarily seen at a technical or community college, they are meant to help prepare a student for a specific career path, usually in science, math, medicine, or engineering. According to cnbc.com, who derived their results from polling the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for high-paying careers with associates’ degrees is over $60,000, many of which are in demand and would probably require more training in order to be completely successful, but you do not have to pay for two more years of college with a bachelor’s in order to land a job like a dental hygienist, a nuclear medicine technician, a radiologist, or even an air traffic controller. However, the average salary for all associate degree jobs is around $40,000, which is significantly less, but depending on your career and life goals this can be more than enough to sustain a person comfortably, as long as you are able to land the job itself. 

There are four different types of associate's degrees you can earn: AAA (Associate of Applied Arts) AAS (Associate of Applied Sciences) AA (Associate of Arts) and AS (Associate of Science). AAA and AAS are more specialized approaches to tuition-- and are taken usually for just the two years before being able to get a diploma and find a job in the chosen field. AA and AS are more general, and are geared towards people who would like to transfer their associates degree credits into a bachelor's degree. This is possible, and depending on the career you want, it’s actually quite lucrative to do so! It is called the 2+2 program, because an associates degree only requires 60 credits (two years full time) to graduate instead of of 120 (four years full time), but you can attend a technical school and earn your associates and then transfer those 60 credits into a bachelor’s degree afterwards, and only have to attend for another two years. You get to pay significantly less than if you paid for all four years of a bachelor's degree, and an associates can help those who might not have the highest undergraduate grades bump up their chances of getting into a more competitive 4-year college. You get the reduced price of a bachelor’s degree, with all of the benefits and higher employment rates it offers. An option that has also been becoming more popular is an online associate degree, which is even less expensive and you still get all the credits and experience you would need.  

The best way to tell if an associate’s degree is a good or better option than other pathways depends on what you want to do with your career, and it is a good idea to look at current job listings for the career you want and determine what requirements and advancements are commonly looked for by a potential employer.

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Now, looking more directly at a bachelor’s degree and the reasons why it’s the path most commonly taken by undergraduates. As the price-per-year of tutelage increases, so do the opportunities for growth and for higher pay in the workforce at the end of those four-five years. There is a significant increase in average salary and decreased unemployment rates, the job range increases, and you gain the requirements to eventually pursuing a masters and a doctorate (Ph.D.) degree. According to northeastern.edu using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Of the 11.6 million jobs created since 2010, over 8.4 million-- 95%-- have gone to bachelor's degree holders.” This degree also provides more opportunities for growth in communication and networking-- something that is becoming increasingly more important as the job world expands and becomes more specialized. Building a circle of people and organizations you are close with by interning and volunteering can dramatically boost your chances of finding a job. Not to mention, while you can get a good job with an associate’s degree, you are more often than not going to be competing with a person who has a bachelor's degree, as they are more often perceived as more qualified for the position. 

Bachelor’s degrees also provide opportunities for advancement to positions that offer higher pay-- like management, and they work specifically on the skills required to make those advancements possible. According to cappella.edu, “Fields like accounting, finance, and business management often require a bachelor’s degree at a minimum. These jobs typically offer more opportunities for career advancement and promotion. Depending on the position, some companies don’t care what your particular area of study was; just having a four-year degree meets their requirement.” And this is incredibly lucrative for finding a job in any field, not just the one that you happened to major in. 

Overall, even with all of the benefits that a bachelor’s degree provides in comparison to a single associate’s, it all comes down to what you want to do and if the time it takes to get the degree you want for the price and benefits it will provide in the future. For most people interested in college, a bachelor's degree is the way to go in terms of future worth and being able to support a family comfortably, but it is still good to know what other options can be taken advantage of as you research careers and pathways you are interested in. 

https://www.capella.edu/blogs/cublog/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/12/pew.png^^Link

“5 Differences Between an Associate's and Bachelor's Degree.” Capella University Blog, www.capella.edu/blogs/cublog/5-differences-of-associates-vs-bachelors-degree/.

Kerenzulli. “The 10 Highest-Paying Jobs You Can Get with an Associate's Degree.” CNBC, CNBC, 26 Apr. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/04/26/the-10-highest-paying-jobs-you-can-get-with-an-associates-degree.html.

“The ROI of a Bachelor's Degree.” Bachelor's Degree Completion, 14 Oct. 2020, www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/is-a-bachelors-degree-worth-it/.

Study.com, study.com/different_degrees.html.

“What Is an Associate's Degree?” Top Universities, 24 Jan. 2020, www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-associates-degree.