Community colleges allow you to get a degree in a variety of different fields without spending tens of thousands of dollars. If you’re pursuing higher education, here are a few of the different types of two-year degrees you can receive at a community college.
Associate of Arts
This associate degree is one of the most common types you will receive at a community college. An Associate of Arts degree focuses on fields such as business, humanities, or social science. While you can get a general associate's degree, you can also choose to specialize in some things. Some examples include an Associate of Arts in elementary education, fine arts (art, dance, or theater), business, or general studies.
Most colleges have a certain number of hours you have to complete before you qualify for an associate’s degree. While most four-year universities will require the standard 120 hours to be eligible for a bachelor’s degree, associate degrees generally only take around 60 hours to complete. Exact degree plans will vary from college to college, and they can usually be found online on the school’s website.
Associate of Science
An Associate of Science is a degree that you may receive if you’re interested in the sciences. While the Associate of Arts degree is heavy in humanities and business, the Associate of Science will include mostly math and science classes. It will still be required to take a few humanities classes, but you will also be required to take courses such as calculus, meteorology, climate studies, linear algebra, and much more.
The requirements and classes for this degree will vary but still typically range around 60 hours. It isn’t uncommon for students to take more than two years to complete this degree because some colleges will require you to take more than 60 hours to qualify for graduation. Some programs of study for an Associate of Science degree include geology, chemistry, computer science, engineering and more.
Associate of Applied Science
This degree is different from the Associates of Science and Arts since the Associate of Applied Science is a vocational degree that is not designed to transfer to a university. Instead, it allows you to enter the workforce immediately after you graduate.
Because of this, the Associate of Applied Science requires you to pick a specialty. Some of the popular fields of study include accounting, digital art, teaching assistant, human services, paralegal studies, and web design. When you specialize, your classes will be tailored to that field, and you will learn as much as you can in the short two-year period. Each Associate of Applied Science degree will have a minimum of required hours, and every school’s requirements will differ as well.
