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How To Update Your Degree To Advance Your Career
Educators are seeing working people who want to get ahead in their current jobs and need new skills to advance, people who want to change career paths or those who for one reason or another never completed their degree.
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Business New Haven
11/22/1999
By: Fiona Phelan
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As the workplace becomes more competitive and employers are looking for highly skilled staff, increasing numbers of working men and women are heading back to college - not only to earn master's degrees, but also to enhance an associate-level degree with a baccalaureate.
Across the state and the nation, colleges and universities are offering bachelor's degree programs that can be earned in just two years by students who already have an associate's degree. Courses for these programs are aimed specifically at people already in the workforce - classes are offered at nights and on weekends. Students can attend part-time and vary their course loads depending on individual needs.
Many colleges and universities are even offering courses online. The World Wide Web is a great resource for determining which area schools offer two-year baccalaureate programs.
The reasons for returning to college can be both personal and professional. Educators are seeing working people who want to get ahead in their current jobs and need new skills to advance; people who want to change career paths; parents who are sending children off to college and seek the personal satisfaction of earning a degree; and those who, for one reason or another, never completed their degree.
Higher education institutes are designing bachelor's degree programs that allow a student to apply courses taken for the associate's degree toward the preliminary requirements for a baccalaureate. Even if a student did not complete an associate's degree but earned some college credits, these credits may be applied toward the bachelor's degree requirements. In this way, students save time by not having to repeat core course requirements and can earn a bachelor's degree in two years instead of four.
Of course, students must meet the application requirements of the individual college or university. Not all courses and credits are transferable from one school to another; requirements vary from university to university.
At some colleges, bachelor's degree graduates can also earn a second bachelor's degree with a different focus in just two years. These second degree programs allow students to pursue new interests or enhance an existing bachelor's degree. Many students returning to the classroom for these degrees have been out of college for ten or even 20 years and are seeking to “update” their degree. Second-bachelor's programs allow students to stay current with the latest research, technology or other information necessary to do well in their chosen career.
The two-year baccalaureate degree programs being offered by colleges and universities allow students to concentrate in specific academic areas rather than majoring in a particular subject that involves taking many classes in that discipline. For example, instead of earning a B.S. in psychology, a student can earn a bachelor of general studies with a focus on human services that includes a variety of psychology-related courses.
Or a student can concentrate his or her studies on marketing and take several different types of business courses such as management, finance and organizational psychology instead of majoring in marketing.
Aided by an academic advisor, students tailor a plan of general study to meet individual needs and goals. The purpose of the programs is to give associate-degree graduates the necessary tools needed to get ahead and gain new skills or pursue new endeavors.
Many students are professionals who are seeking to go into business for themselves. These students are taking classes that give them the managerial and entrepreneurial skills needed to succeed in business. Other students aim to remain current in their position to remain competitive with the thousands of new college graduates that seek first-time employment each year.
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