<p>The program my daughters are in offers either the AA (obviously you have to take the courses laid out in the catalog for whichever major you are attempting) or the IGETC ed plan. Many students have graduated with AA’s along with their HS diplomas and enrolled in 4 year colleges as freshman. Some have chosen to just work on GE requirements and not earn an AA. As long as the college courses were taken prior to HS graduation, you are allowed to enroll as a freshman at the UCs and CSUs, although some of our graduates have done the same at Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, etc. Of course, there may be some schools that approach it differently, but I haven’t talked to any parents/students at our school who have had any problems as a result of getting the AA concurrent with HS diploma. When selecting classes at the CC, it is also advisable to pay attention (in California) to which ones are UC transferable, as they are clearly designated in the catalog. </p>