Associates Degree - General Requirements

[bjcheung77]

For the most part, almost all associates degrees are 60 or more credits, and comprises of general education and electives.  There are some degrees with an emphasis, focus, minor, etc, it's just a different name for a similar structure of 15-18 credits or so.

With alternative credit, the max most institutions allow for transfer is 75% of the associates degree, which is 45 credits out of the 60.  For those using the associates to ladder into a bachelors, you can max out that 75% as well, which is 90 credits out of the 120.

My suggestion nowadays have been to maximize the use of ACE and alternative credit options, up to 90 or even more if you're going for Coursera certs that grant college credit through ACE recommendations.  This adds to the trifecta of certs, degree, experience...

Going above the 45 for the associates and getting 90+ will hit all the general education and elective requirements for the bachelors, you'll only be left with the residency requirements for the major, usually 30 credits, unless it's in a very unique major.

When I started several years ago, I went with StraighterLine to get a feel of online education, I took 34+ courses with them over a span of 3 months subscription, I also had to pay for each individual class I wanted which cost between $49-$69 each back then.

You now have better options that are cheaper, easier, faster, here's an example:  Study.com recently came out with a new pricing plan, their College Starter which is $95/month, 2 at a time, unlimited classes a month (currently 67 classes to select from).

You can use these classes offered by Study.com towards the 90+ credits, hitting all the general education and electives for a degree from one of our recommended institutions, you'll still need to complete the requirements from those institutions to finish.

TLDR: For your associates, complete more credits to hit future requirements for a bachelors of your choice, affordably using alternative credit such as Study.com, up to 90 credits for use towards recommended institutions within the board.