Friday, August 1, 2008

Advice and Benefits on Online Associate Degrees

By Ray Lam


Associate's degrees are undergraduate degrees that require only a minimum of 60 credit hours. Nowadays, it is possible to get an associate's degree through distance education or online programs. The program can be completed on your own schedule. You may want to take a full-time course that can be finished within two years. Except for the lack of the on-campus or in-classroom experience, online associate's degree programs provide the same amount of training and focus from instructors.

Associate degrees online are marketed as two-year courses, which is markedly different to bachelor degrees because they are usually expected to last four years. However, it is possible to complete both degree programs in a much shorter period of time if you take them online and demonstrate sheer hard work and dedication to your education. Taking an associate degree online can be useful if you are unsure of the direction that you want to take in life and are not set on one specific career path. In effect, getting an online associate degree education is the equivalent of taking a community college degree and can always be used as a foundation for a bachelor degree at a later date.

Students enrolled in associate's degree programs may shift to bachelor's degrees, if they wish to. The transfer should not be too difficult to facilitate as associate's degree programs begin with general education, as most bachelor's degrees do. The following are examples of associate's degree programs: Associate of Arts; Associate of Applied Science, which trains students to be eligible to enter the workforce after the program and gives specific titles such as AAS in Engineering Technology; Associate of Science; and Occupational or Applied Degree. The following are the disciplines that have associate's degree programs: Accounting; Arts & Humanities; Business & Management; Criminal Justice; Design; Early Childhood Development; Education; Engineering; Graphic Design; Fire Science; Health Sciences; Hospitality Management; Human Resources Management; Law & Paralegal; Marketing; Social Sciences; Telecommunications; and Technology.

At the end of a successful vetting of your work/ life experience or equivalency test, you will be awarded an original accredited Associate Degree, original transcripts and education verification letter along with other relevant documents.

Most online colleges and universities offer an online associate degree program. These programs are usually very similar in content and lessons. The biggest difference in programs will be price and completion time. To offset the price, many individuals apply for student loans. Another option is to see if the program would be covered by your employer's tuition reimbursement program.

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