What's an Associate Degree?

Have you ever wondered about your life after high school? What will you be doing? If you’ll go to college? Where will you be? It’s easy for students to struggle with their plans for the future, with so many options to choose from. Even so, chances are that you’ve heard of two very popular options: associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees.

Seeing as 49.8% of all college graduates earn bachelor’s degrees compared to 24.9% of all college graduates who earn associate’s degrees, it can be easy to assume bachelor’s degrees are the natural way to go. In this blog, however, I’m going to outline all the ways that associate degrees can affect students’ lives for the better!

What is an Associate Degree?

An associate degree is a two-year undergraduate degree typically awarded by community colleges (CC’s). Owing to their status as an educational intermediate between a high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree, they are often seen as stepping stones for students looking to get a bachelor’s. Nevertheless, associate degrees are perfectly fine to use on their own, and many jobs nowadays require only an associate degree.

Associate degrees offer immense potential for high school graduates to increase their prospective job offerings as well as their salary and often lead to lower unemployment rates. If you’re a bit skeptical, you can take a look at some of the statistics surrounding the average salary according to each educational level.

By the look of these numbers, the medial annual earnings for someone with less than a high school diploma is $32,565, while the median annual earnings for an associate degree graduate reach $50,093. From these statistics, it’s pretty clear that – for the majority of the time – an associate degree will not go to waste!

For students who won’t stop at an associate degree, there are multiple reasons why students might get their associate degree before ultimately going on to get their bachelor’s degree (a move that can bring in $69,381 in median annual earnings).

For example, associate degrees are often sought after due to the flexibility that CC courses offer, along with the opportunity to get into the workforce sooner than a bachelor’s degree (which is meant to be completed in four years, although only 39.8% of students are actually able to graduate in that time-frame).

Regardless of the reason for getting an associate degree, there’s truly no denying how incredibly beneficial they can be.

 Fun fact: associate degrees are often referred to as “associate’s degrees”. In reality, it’s just “associate degree” – there’s no extra “s” or apostrophe.

What Classes are Required for an Associate Degree?

As we saw above, the most common source of associate degrees is community college (CC). Associate degrees are typically awarded after a student completes 60-semester units or 90 quarter units at a CC (depending on whether the CC uses a semester or quarter system). Either way, a full-time CC student will generally find themselves with an associate degree after two years of study – assuming everything goes right.

These units are usually made up of a combination of courses directly applicable to your major alongside general education and elective courses. This isn’t too different from the high school curriculum (which also covers multiple subjects) besides the fact that about half of the units for your associate degree will be directly related to the major you choose.

On that note, there are four primary types of associate degrees:

  • Associate of Arts (AA)

    • AA degrees focus on the liberal arts and humanities. They tend to be more general in their studies and can be used either to directly enter the workforce or to progress to a bachelor’s degree.

  • Associate of Science (AS)

    • AS degrees focus more on science and math. Like AA degrees, you can use an AS degree to either enter the workforce or go on to earn your bachelor’s degree.

  • Associate of Applied Arts (AAA)

    • AAA degrees also focus on liberal arts and humanities, but incorporate more hands-on learning and teach applicable skills. These degrees are often used to enter the workforce directly rather than used to continue one’s education.

  • Associate of Applied Science (AAS)

    • AAS degrees teach the fields of science and math and incorporate hands-on learning in order to teach applicable skills. These degrees are often used to enter the workforce directly rather than used to continue one’s education.

Some CC’s also offer an Associate of General Studies (AGS), which allows students to personalize their curriculum and choose which courses they would like to take. There are generally some required courses/subjects that they still have to take, but all other courses can be chosen by the student.

This type of degree can be utilized by students looking to learn a range of skills and knowledge in multiple areas, and/or don’t want to be confined to the courses required by one of the four types of associate degrees above.

Also, the California Community College system has an additional degree referred to as an “Associate Degree for Transfer” (ADT), which can be broken up into an Associate in Science for Transfer and an Associate in Arts for Transfer. This associate degree guarantees California Community College students the opportunity for priority admission to a CSU as long as they meet the minimum eligibility requirements set by CSU.

For students enrolled in California community colleges, this can mean a swift, straightforward pathway to a bachelor’s degree from a CSU, although not necessarily to the campus of your choice.

The differentiation between the four main types involves different types of courses and intended outcomes. AA and AS degrees both focus on teaching knowledge about a particular subject, while AAA and AAS degrees directly prepare students for a career in the workforce immediately following graduation – hence, the term “applied”.

They’re further divided by the types of subjects they focus on as AA and AAA degrees, true to the “arts”, focus on the liberal arts. Meanwhile, AS and AAS degrees are – you guessed it – focused on fields in science and math.

The chart below visualizes these points:

Having four different types of associate degrees means each type will generally feature different genres of classes. The specific courses a student will take depends on what specific degree they choose, such as an Associate Degree for Biological Sciences requiring courses in biology and chemistry, but there are definite differences in the general distribution of courses required for an AA degree vs. an AS degree.

Aside from general education/elective courses, major courses required by AA and AAA degrees are mainly focused on liberal arts, while AS and AAS degrees are mainly focused on science and math courses.

In general, the classes required for an associate degree will generally vary depending on which of the four types of associate degrees you choose, and will be specified even further by the major/focus of the degree that you’re interested in. This is all to make sure you have the knowledge and skills necessary for a certain range of occupations, so make sure to choose your degree carefully!

What Can You Do with an Associate Degree?

  1. Pursue a Career

  2. Advance to a Bachelor’s Degree

  3. Get a Feel for Your Future

  4. Switch Careers

  5. Knowledge


1. Pursue a Career

You may have heard that there's been a steady rise in educational requirements for many jobs in the workforce - and this may very well be true. To put this in perspective, it’s estimated that by 2030, 40% of jobs offered in California will require a bachelor’s degree as their minimum education requirement.

Even then, there’s - believe it or not - a surprising number of things you can do with an associate degree. For starters, there’s the fact that a good number of occupations nowadays only require an associate degree, along with numerous others that don’t require it but highly prefer it.

According to the BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), in 2018 they identified 99 occupations as requiring an associate degree or other postsecondary education. Employment opportunities requiring an associate degree or postsecondary non-degree level education were projected to increase by 11% from 2016-2026, compared to the projected 7% expected for all occupations overall.

Not only will an associate degree help you pursue a career, it may also give you an edge over other applicants without one! Although it may not be as much of an edge as a bachelor’s degree might get you, it’s certainly a worthy one.

Also, don’t forget the substantial increase in median annual earnings that comes with an associate degree: $32,565 for someone with less than a high school diploma and $50,093 for an associate degree graduate. An extra 2 years of education seems like a fair trade-off in this case!

2. Advance to a Bachelor’s Degree

You can also consider continuing your education to the level of a bachelor’s degree, which can prove even more beneficial as median annual earnings rise to $69,381 and even more job opportunities become available to you. Once you have a bachelor’s, you can move on to even higher levels of education, including a master's, which brings in $81,867, a professional degree, which rises to $100,060, and/or a doctoral degree, which earns you $99,290.

Keep in mind, however, that in 2022, only 40% of CC students with the intention to transfer to a 4-year university were actually able to do so - so don’t go into your associate degree and expect to have no problems when you apply to transfer.

Your decision will come down to your evaluation of multiple factors, but an especially important point to consider is whether you can get the career you want with just an associate degree. Considering how much time you will be devoting to your career, this is most definitely a vital point to take into account!

3. Get a Feel for Your Future

Before investing 4 years’ worth of full-time study into a bachelor’s degree in a specific field, you can use an associate degree to dip your toes in the water and find out what kind of subjects truly speak to you. It can be a difficult and/or time-consuming process to change majors while enrolled at a university, so utilizing the flexibility and short time frame of an associate degree can help in finding the right major for you.

In fact, you may find that you aren’t fully invested in the career/major you were initially interested in and that the kind of occupation you want is actually attainable with just an associate degree.

Given the fact that it’s difficult for students to come up with the right major due to the lack of information and advice available to them, associate degrees are an excellent way to find out what you want to do in the future in a shorter and more flexible time frame.

Not only that, but an associate degree can let you get a feel for postsecondary education before you start planning your bachelor’s degree and beyond, which can save you plenty of unnecessary time, money, and effort.

4. Switch Careers

For people who (unfortunately) find out that they’re in the wrong career, an associate degree can help them go for another. Two years may not seem too short, but compared to a bachelor’s degree it’s much easier to swallow. Not to mention the fact that you can get your associate practically anywhere, and it’s much more flexible and oftentimes affordable. An especially helpful perk of using an associate degree to switch careers is a result of their flexibility, which means you can keep working at your current occupation while earning your degree.

As a matter of fact, financial aid is often available for those pursuing an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree, but pursuing a degree while earning an income can affect how much you receive. For someone who is already employed and is hoping to earn their associate degree while bringing in an income, the low costs of an associate degree as compared to a bachelor’s degree can certainly help out on your journey. To put things in perspective, you can find data for the average annual cost of education and financial aid awarded to students enrolled in Title IV institutions from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Changing careers is a big decision to make, but for some, it can make all the difference in the world for their income and satisfaction levels.

5. Knowledge

Although certainly among the least popular options, some people work toward an associate degree simply for the pursuit of knowledge. In other words, just for the heck of it.

This may seem like a dismissible and potentially wasteful option, but there’s no denying the amount of information and skills one could gain from earning an associate degree - particularly for students who aren’t quite sure or satisfied with the options they currently have.

In fact, one could simply use the relatively short time frame of an associate degree to get an idea of what they want out of their career and/or education and work from there. Going into an associate degree with a relaxed attitude may actually be beneficial for a range of reasons including mental health, so this option may be more noteworthy than you think.

The bottom line is this: it’s debatable whether getting an associate degree for the heck of it is a smart idea, but having an associate degree certainly helps in multiple areas!

what can i do with an associate degree

Jobs You Can Get with an Associate Degree

Take the following examples with a hefty grain of salt. If you do a quick internet search for “jobs you can get with an associate degree”, you’ll probably find many articles listing the highest-paying options. Take into account that those occupations may be available to associate degree holders, but they are not necessarily guaranteed.

With the high salary comes a wealth of problems – ranging from applicant competition to other skills/knowledge required for the role. Even for “average” jobs, it’s harder to find a job than you may think – especially the one that’s right for you. You should be aware that the following jobs may not be guaranteed either, but with the right qualifications they will at least be a possibility:

The above values for Median Pay and Job Outlook were taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can take a closer look at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website if you’re interested in learning more about a particular career, particularly in the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Final Thoughts on Associate Degrees

How do you feel about associate degrees now? Do you feel like it might be a good option for you? That’s great and all, but keep in mind that there’s a lot that goes into the decision of going for an associate degree.

You also need to remember that there is simply more to an associate degree than you may think. Not only do you need to continually work for two years’ worth of full-time study, but you may face a myriad of obstacles – ranging anywhere from life circumstances to the realization that the major you chose isn’t right for you.

If it gets too much at any point in the process, make sure to calm down, breathe, and maybe rely on those who can help you. Just remember - the people around you can be a great help in the decisions you make, but don’t let them make those decisions for you!

Luckily, one of the most wonderful things about an associate degree is that no one can stop you from getting another one if you change your mind! With the short time frame, nationwide availability, and relatively low cost, earning an additional associate degree or switching majors part-way through your current one can be a reasonable and worthwhile decision.

You should always try to make the best decision for your first choice, but the flexibility of these degrees means it’s not too much of a problem if that’s out of your power.

Most of all, don’t be afraid to go for what you want; life may be ever-changing, but associate degrees can be just as flexible! There are so many benefits that accompany associate degrees, so keep this in your mind as you plan your future!

Life beyond high school can be a scary thought, especially when you’re facing struggles with high school as it is. If this is the case, you can always consider signing up for UPchieve for free and get 24/7 tutoring and college counseling!

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Student Tips, College & Career AdviceKaley Ohare