Bachelor’s Degree vs. Associate Degree: What’s the Difference?

A degree may open the door to a variety of opportunities and diverse career paths. The degree programs offered at AIU will not necessarily lead to the featured careers. This collection of articles is intended to help inform and guide you through the process of determining which level of degree and types of certifications align with your desired career path.

Depending on your academic goals and other life circumstances, trying to decide between pursuing a bachelor’s degree vs. an associate degree could be challenging. Looking at the potential pros and cons of pursuing either type of undergraduate degree program could help to make your decision-making process more efficient, and hopefully even a bit easier.

In this article, we will discuss some of the similarities and differences between bachelor’s and associate degree programs.

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What Is an Associate Degree?

An associate degree is a type of undergraduate degree that is sometimes referred to as a two-year college degree. Earning an associate degree means completing approximately two to three years of study in a postsecondary degree program. Associate degree programs may be pursued at community colleges, online universities and traditional four-year institutions.

Associate degrees can be broken down into a few main types: Associate of Arts (AA), Associate of Science (AS), Associate of Applied Arts (AAA) and Associate of Applied Science (AAS). Often an associate degree can be used as a steppingstone for pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the future, and credits earned in an associate degree program may be applied to a bachelor’s degree program. For example, the first two years of American InterContinental University’s associate degree programs align with the first two years of our bachelor’s degree programs in the same discipline, helping to make for a smooth transition from an Associate of Science to a Bachelor of Science degree program.

Occasionally, an associate degree may be “terminal,” which means it is the highest degree that can be awarded in a particular field of study. Associate of Applied Science degrees may fall into this category, as AAS degree program requirements are generally designed to help students prepare to pursue a specific career path immediately upon graduation.

What Is a Bachelor’s Degree?

A bachelor’s degree is a more advanced undergraduate degree that is sometimes referred to as a four-year college degree (because it typically takes a minimum of four years to complete a bachelor’s degree course of study). As with the associate degree, there are several main types of bachelor’s degrees: Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Generally speaking, BA coursework is more focused on the humanities (e.g., history, language arts), BS coursework is more focused on math and science (e.g., information technology, biology) and BFA coursework is more focused on the fine arts (e.g., media production, fashion design and marketing).

Bachelor’s degree programs may offer the option to specialize or concentrate in an area that is related to the student’s chosen discipline. For instance, a bachelor’s degree program typically consists of general education courses, core courses and elective courses. When a student chooses to specialize or concentrate within a given discipline, instead of choosing their own general elective courses, they opt to take a predetermined set of courses focused on a particular area. (This is the difference between pursuing AIU’s Information Technology (BSIT): Generalist degree program versus Information Technology (BSIT): Concentration in Cybersecurity degree program, for example.)

Earning a bachelor’s degree means successfully completing general education requirements as well as core and elective courses directly related to the field of study (e.g., business administration, criminal justice) the student has chosen. Because bachelor’s degree programs typically require twice as many credits as associate degree programs, they provide an opportunity forg students to study and acquire more in-depth skills and knowledge.

AIU offers traditional, hybrid and online bachelor’s degree programs in Accounting, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Fashion Design and Marketing, Healthcare Management, Information Technology and Media Production.

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Main Differences: Bachelor’s Degree vs. Associate Degree

Some of the key differences between bachelor’s degree and associate degree programs are:

  • degree program length
  • degree program cost
  • post-graduation career path options
  • other considerations

Bachelor’s Degree vs. Associate Degree Program Length

As we already touched on above, bachelor’s degree programs typically take about twice the amount of time to complete compared to associate degree programs. However, the number of courses or credits required to complete either type of degree program will vary from school to school. AIU’s Associate of Science degree programs are designed as 24-month programs requiring successful completion of 90 credits, while the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Fine Arts degree programs are designed as 48-month programs requiring successful completion of 180 credits. With that said, multiple other factors could potentially affect a student’s time to program completion, including transfer credits, prior learning credits, breaks and how many courses are taken per term.

Bachelor’s Degree vs. Associate Degree Program Costs

Because they require the completion of more courses than associate degree programs do, the average cost of a bachelor’s degree program is typically higher than the cost of an associate degree program. In general, pursuing an associate degree costs about half of what it would cost to pursue a bachelor’s degree at the same institution (because you only need to complete half the number of credits that would be required to complete a bachelor’s degree program).

But various factors can impact the overall cost of an undergraduate degree program, directly or indirectly. Some of the same factors that can affect an associate or bachelor’s degree program’s overall length—namely, transfer credits or prior learning credits—may also directly reduce a program’s overall cost. Other direct factors may include grants and scholarships or military tuition rates. Indirect factors include whether a degree program is campus-based or online: An online associate degree or bachelor’s degree program could make it easier to balance your professional and educational responsibilities so that you can continue to earn an income while pursuing your academic goals. It could also help you to save on transportation costs, since you attend classes remotely.

Bachelor’s Degree vs. Associate Degree Career Paths

In addition to considering factors such as associate degree vs. bachelor’s degree program length and costs, you should reflect on your own goals and interests. It is important to know which occupations may require a bachelor’s degree or higher for entry, and which may only require an associate degree.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2022, about seven out of ten jobs were in occupations that typically require less than a bachelor’s degree for entry. Furthermore, the BLS projects that several of these occupations will experience faster employment growth than the 2.8 percent average for all occupations between 2022 and 2032.1

However, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 25- to 34-year-olds who had higher educational attainment and who worked full time and year round in 2022 also had higher median earnings in that year—a consistent pattern seen every year from 2012 through 2022. In 2022:

  • the median earnings of bachelor’s degree completers were 35 percent higher than the median earnings of associate’s degree completers ($49,500), and
  • the median earnings of associate’s degree completers were 18 percent higher than the median earnings of high school completers ($41,800).2

Bachelor’s Degree vs. Associate Degree: Other Considerations

  • Opportunities for Advancement. Because it generally takes less time to complete an associate degree program than a bachelor’s degree program, an associate degree might be the right fit for someone who wants to pursue their desired career path as soon as possible (assuming that desired career path does not typically require a bachelor’s degree for entry). But what about professional advancement? If advancing along your desired career path typically requires a bachelor’s degree, and advancing is important to you, then you have to factor this into your decision-making process: should you pursue a bachelor’s degree now, or should you pursue it after you have entered the occupation?
  • Educational Goals. If you are planning on pursuing a graduate degree at some point, then pursuing a bachelor’s degree sooner than later might make more sense for you. However, depending on your current circumstances, you may have to weigh this desire against other family or financial considerations.

    • Learn more about AIU’s online associate degree and bachelor’s degree programs today.

    1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Career Outlook, “Fast Growth, Good Pay—without a Bachelor’s Degree,” BLS.gov (Dec. 2023), https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2023/data-on-display/fast-growth-good-pay-without-a-bachelors-degree.htm. This data represents national figures and is not based on school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary.
    2 National Center for Education Statistics, Condition of Education, “Annual Earnings by Educational Attainment,” U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (updated May 2024), https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cba/annual-earnings (last visited Feb. 21, 2025). This data represents national figures and is not based on school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary.

    American InterContinental University cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement. Not all programs are available to residents of all states. REQ2106874 2/2025

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