3 Reasons to complete your Bachelor’s degree if you have an Associate’s degree

Graduate career prospects are at the heart of US education, with teaching increasingly informed by what is going on in the rapidly-changing world around us. With digital technologies transforming the education landscape, getting advanced degrees – whether online or offline – has become more prevalent and in some cases, necessary, due to the tightened and competitive job market.  The varied range of options in learning format, specialisations and majors and institutions, can in fact be mind-boggling.

If you have an associate’s degree, you’ve already demonstrated your commitment to further education to determine your career path. However, it doesn’t get easier from there on for some who are on the fence about further education: Should you finish your bachelor’s? Should you do a professional certification instead? Should you just get some work experience first? Is it even worth studying further? And what about the investment of time and money?

If any of these questions are keeping you up at night, we’re here to make a case for you to consider completing your bachelor’s degree. Here are top three reasons to convince you (we sure can try, right?) to complete your Bachelor’s degree:

1.  You get better pay and career prospects

Job market is increasingly becoming competitive and depending on the industry, even tighter. Minimum educational requirements for a lot of jobs has increased, and more and more employers require professionals with specialised skill sets. A bachelor’s degree opens up better career prospects for you than just an associate’s degree. According to Marketwatch,  a bachelor’s degree holder will earn over 26% more money than an associate’s degree holder with similar experience.  College graduates, on average, earned 56% more than high school grads in 2015, according to data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute.  They are more likely to have a job, get paid better and own homes, than high school grads.  Another study, by payscale.com showed a bachelor’s degree holder earns at least 20% more salary than an associate degree holder.

Source: Payscale.com

In a high-demand career like clinical research or data engineering, the jump in salaries can be almost double, from associate to bachelors’; although most of the jobs in such high-growth fields require a bachelor’s degree minimum.

2. Your time and cost investment can be optimised

As an associate degree holder, you have already invested time and money towards building your career, and this can be leveraged to your advantage.  You may have done the foundational courses, and completed most of the general education requirements required for a bachelor’s degree.  You may be able to do specialised courses and fields of study in a bachelor’s degree program by transferring the credits from associates to bachelor’s.  In a short span of two years, you can fast track to getting a bachelor’s degree.

Plus, there are many educational institutions that offer a range of financing options for pursuing a bachelor’s degree: for instance, we allow qualified students to complete their bachelor’s degrees with as little as zero upfront payment till they get a job. Your investment in associate degree can be optimised if you take up a bachelor’s degree after an associate’s degree, vs just doing a bachelor’s degree. You’re a lot more informed, prepared, and benefitted after your associate’s degree.

3.  You can find the best suitable program for you, with tons of options in the market today. 

As mentioned earlier, this can be a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it. Education is a competitive business, and today, there are many institutions and colleges that offer a wide range of associate to bachelor’s programs in flexible learning formats. This allows you to shop around and determine the best fit for you. Your associate degree should’ve helped you narrow your career choices / options, so that’s a good point to start. If your goal is to get into a high-growth, lucrative career, consider a program that has practical components that allows you to gain practical exposure required on the job. Our bachelor programs have a singular aim: to get you ready for that first job with the right knowledge, skills and experience. Our AS to BS in Clinical Research program guarantees you an internship that will help you fill the experience gap, and prepare you for the first job, unlike any other program in the market today. Likewise, our AS to BS in Data Engineering prepares you for a solid career in data analytics – one of the hottest fields today – by providing you experience on hands-on tools and languages which many other programs don’t. You learn the hard skills most in-demand today. So, do your research when it comes to determining a program fit.

Do you agree with these points? Have you benefitted by completing your bachelor’s degree after associate’s degree? We’d love to hear your experirence!

Interested to learn more? Check out our degree programs or contact us at (848) 299-5900.