Associate’s Degrees: Accessible, Affordable, and Timely Paths to Post-Secondary Education

If you’re looking for a quicker, less expensive approach to either finding a career or making a career change, then there’s an associate’s degree for you. Traditionally, an associate’s takes about two years of full-time study to complete – half what it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree. Not only does that mean you’ll get into the workforce faster, but you’ll spend less money than you would on a bachelor’s degree as well. Not only that, but associate’s degrees are often earned at community colleges, which have earned their reputations for being less expensive and more flexible than four-year colleges and universities.

There are three different categories of associate’s degrees, each with their own strengths. The AAS, or Associate of Applied Science, meets the needs of those seeking entry into a certain field or trade upon graduation. The focus is on practical knowledge and industry-specific training. The AS, or Associate of Science degree, focuses on STEM classes. It’s popular for those who want to transition into healthcare, law, computer science, or the physical sciences. The Associate of Arts degree, or AA, uses an arts and humanities foundation. 

An associate’s degree serves two main purposes. First, it can be used as a cost-effective way to finish the freshman and sophomore years of a bachelor’s degree without having to pay the higher costs of attending a four-year school. Earning an associate’s and then transferring can save students thousands of dollars in tuition costs, and many community colleges have acceptance agreements with four-year schools for their top students. Also, if you know you’ll want to earn a bachelor’s one day, but you aren’t sure what you want to major in, getting an associate’s degree will give you access to higher-paying jobs than a high school diploma would while you gain real-world experience and decide what to do next.

A second purpose the associate’s degree serves is to provide access to a career right away. A surprising number of respectable and lucrative careers exist for community college graduates. For example, radiology technologists average around $55,000 a year, and paralegals can easily earn $40,000 or more. There are specific associate’s degree programs for both these roles. Other jobs you can get with an associate’s degree include computer network support specialist (average salary 60K), web developers (also 60K), and registered nurse (65K). Sound too good to be true? It isn’t. In fact, according to Georgetown University, one out of three professionals with associate’s degrees reported higher average earnings than their colleagues who had bachelor’s degrees.

If you can’t decide which of these paths is for you, here’s great news: you can have it both ways. For example, you can earn an associate’s degree in hospitality management, gain some industry experience, and then transfer your credits to a four-year hospitality management program. 

Associate’s degrees may be the best-kept secret of the higher education world. At the very least, they represent a practical, affordable, and flexible way to begin a lucrative career journey.