What can you really do with an AA/AS degree?

Parents Forum
1

I am an adult ed teacher and am wondering whether a terminal associates degree is worth it for my students, who are immigrants/refugees. Which associate degrees really help someone get a good paying job?

I would think the medical related associates (eg. xray tech, lab tech, resp tech, physical therapy asst) are good options but the CC located in my area doesn’t offer any of these and most of my students are not able to relocate or commute long distances. Excluding the general studies/and transfer degrees, these are what are offered AA, AAS or AS at the local CC.

Which of these will really help someone land a good job? Which of these are not worth the time or cost of study? I appreciate your thoughts!

Accounting
Biotechnology
Broadcast Production
Business Administration
Chemical Dependency Counseling
Communication and Media Arts
Computer Information Systems
Computer Science
Computer Support Specialist
Construction and Environmental Technology
Creative Writing
Criminal Justice
Culinary Arts
Digital Cinema
Early Childhood
Engineering Science
Entrepreneurship
Environmental Studies
Graphic Design
Hotel and Restaurant Management
Human Services
International Business
International Studies
New Media
Nursing A.A.S. Degree
Paralegal A.A.S. Degree, Certificate
Photography
Recreation: Exercise Studies
Recreation: Outdoor Recreation
Recreation: Recreation Leadership
Sport Management
Sustainable Farming and Food Systems
Wine Marketing

2

Doesn’t your college have a career counseling department? You could ask them where they place students with some of these that you’re doubtful of. Are you at S. Seattle College? It offers many of the degrees above. Let’s see:

Culinary arts-uh, self-evident. LOTS of restaurant jobs out there. And at least SSC has one of the best culinary arts programs around. Kids come from all over just to take it. There are specialties in say, baking, that get kids into niche bakeries/cake shops, for example. I’ve read great things about this program.

WA state has many wineries, so a wine-related degree would be a good bet for this area. I have a friend who chucked her IT career to do exactly that. She loves it. Doesn’t live expensively, but wouldn’t go back.

Recreation leadership-good for working at one of the many community centers which offer all manner of programs at free or low cost, often to immigrant communities. Having that degree and being bilingual would look great on a resume.

Outdoor recreation-leading kayak tours, camping expeditions, working at one of the rock climbing outfits around here.

Early childhood-daycare, after school programs, assisting at one of the many preschool programs out there. In-home childcare (you need to be licensed to do this legally), para-educator in some school systems.

Construction-You can’t outsource construction. Even in a downturn, homes need repairs, wealthy people expand and upgrade, commercial construction never really dries up. Son has a welding degree from a CC-he actually never has welded as a career, but he has never lacked for a job in the construction industry, not even when things were very bleak in 2008. Owns his own company now, and the business classes he took as part of the degree have been hugely helpful.

Hotel/restaurant management-lost of people in this industry do not have 4-year degrees. Some don’t even HAVE a degree. But internships and required field work in this area can launch a good career. H’s best friend did exactly that. He’s now a highly paid, very successful consultant.

Graphic designers seem to do well. Anything in computers or IT. Not everyone is writing codes and working for Google. Someone needs to keep systems in small businesses running. Paralegals are in demand to do scut work for lawyers that needs more expertise than a legal secretary can offer. I see adds for them all the time here. Broadcast production-radio producers. Every radio show you listen to has one. Someone is running the sound board and picking which “10th caller” gets through for the free tickets, or selecting the next caller for a talk show. It’s not especially well-paying-H had this job while in college, but it’s not minimum wage and can be very interesting.

These are the ones I know about just off the top of my head. It depends what you mean by “good jobs”./ If you think ibanking, medicine or law, no, these degrees will not make the students that kind of income. But they can launch decent ways to earn a living and I have seen people become successful with just an AA. Keep in mind that the immigrants you’re teaching may see some of these careers as huge steps up. They may later even transfer and get a 4-year degree. I work for a church with several immigrant families and we just sent one off to do just that.

Also, education is also better than no education. These majors will ALL help students improve basic skills like writing, math, logic, etc. Unless they are being induced to borrow money that they won’t be able to pay back, I don’t think any of these majors are useless.

3

By good paying jobs, I mean non-menial jobs that can support a family (with benefits).

To clarify, I do not work for the college.

The construction degree is not a practical degree like welding. It’s mainly gen. studies with 1 class in each of these: construction management, const materials, archit drafting, and surveying.

Culinary is not preparing someone to be a pastry chef. It’s general studies with 2 classes in food service and prep that “e focuses on culinary operations concepts, including kitchen structures and design, inventory and control, service systems and advanced menu development within a commercial setting.” My thought is that you can get into the restaurant business without a degree. Am I wrong?

There are plenty of people without degrees in childcare too. Will an associates degree get you a good paying job in childcare?

In other fields, I wonder if an AA can land a job since AA grads will be competing with people who have bachelor’s degrees; I believe this to be true for paralegals.

4

As with anything, you have to do your research. All I know is that the job placement rate for the “technical college” wing (which is the one that offers our associate’s degrees) of the open-access university I work at is really high, and this is an area that doesn’t lack for bachelor’s degree holders, so there’s clearly something worthwhile there.

5

Same here, dfbdfb.I’ve seen ads for paralegals withboth levels of education. And yes, you CAN get into restaurants without a degree, but the CC’s here do teach cooking at a restaurant level, and even a class or two puts you above the kid on the street who likes to cook at home. OP, “kitchen structures and design, inventory and control, service systems and advanced menu development within a commercial setting” are pretty critical for working in a high volume setting.

In WA you need to take certain classes called STARS I think, to work in most licensed child care jobs. The CC’s teach them. While there ARE unlicensed workers, there’s a move away from that-wouldn’t you want YOUR kid in a place with trained caregivers?

Not all of these jobs will support a family with good benefits, but they will get someone a better job than no advanced education.

6

That’s a good point—and remember, for much of the population served by CCs, moving from the underclass to the working class is a huge step up in lifestyle. (Particularly if there are things like paid time off and health insurance benefits attached to a job you can now get.) What counts as what’s necessary to support a family may be different depending on where your experiences lie.

7

Can you make an appointment with the career center of your local community college, and pick their brains a little? My son’s community college is very friendly to that sort of thing. They love to network with the business community so you could go at it from that angle.

In Florida, AAs tend to be a Gen-Ed track to a BA or BS. Of course there are career paths for people with AAs. AS tends to be a bit more technical. I would look at the AS in computer science, or the health fields.

8

My friend’s son bombed out of our state flagship first semester. He then went to the local CC and got computer relates associate degree this May. He started this summer working in IT support for a school district. $17/hr with benefits(high COL area). After he gets some real world experience he can go after IT certifications to increase his marketability. He can eventually attempt to get a 4 years degree.
So from the list above - Computer Support Specialist or Computer Science - should allow graduate to support his family. A lot of success in IT field depends on the desire to learn new technologies by yourself. Read books and documentation, play with equipment, ask questions. Immigrant drive should help.
It is possible to continue working towards 4 years degree at night while already employed. The good thing is that in this field nobody cares where you got your degree.

9

Most of the list consists of obviously pre-professional majors. How worthwhile it is to study them is likely dependent on your local economy – specifically whether the jobs associated with those majors hire significant numbers of employees and favor those with associates degrees in those majors over other applicants.

10

Unfortunately, I live in an area with a very overqualified highly educated workforce. This makes it difficult for people with less education.

11

My sister had an AA in office management and there were tons of job opportunities processing health insurance claims. She moved from that into managing an office for a dentist. Agreed that many AA degrees aren’t going to allow someone to support a family as the sole breadwinner but the jobs may be better than what a HS grad could get.

12

But are the very overqualified highly educated people seeking the same jobs that are associated with the associates degree majors you list?

13

If you can find a local community college that offers an AA in Opticianry, I think that’s a great field to get into. Opticians are the technicians who interpret the prescriptions for eyeglasses and make the lenses to fit into the frames. With an aging population, there will be job growth. Here’s a list of all the programs by state:
http://www.eyecareprofessions.com/opticians/schools.html

14

" As with anything, you have to do your research. All I know is that the job placement rate for the “technical college” wing (which is the one that offers our associate’s degrees) of the open-access university I work at is really high, and this is an area that doesn’t lack for bachelor’s degree holders, so there’s clearly something worthwhile there. "

Just curious as to what specific degrees is this technical college awarding? The CC colleges near us offer degrees much like the OP posted. We do have a technical college that offers 2 - 4 year programs that do very well. Huge difference in the degrees offered.

I know when our DD was looking for a job, many were requiring at least an associates degree even for file clerks. They were full time, so income boost there, but she would never support a family with it.

15

My Uncle was in construction for about 20 years, but always yearned to work in healthcare. Went back and got an AA degree to be a radiology tech. In less than five years, he makes about 75k, and has much better hours, and less wear and tear on his body. He tells me there is still much demand for his position.

16

I don’t know your local economy but I do want to point out that if the students are part of an immigrant community, they may be able to find jobs working with that community if their English is strong. In other words, a hiring manager may be much more likely to hire the person with a 2-year degree and fluent Spanish/ Mandarin/ Vietnamese/ Farsi/ Arabic than a person with a 4-year degree and rudimentary language skills.

Are your students educated in their own countries? The best thing for them is usually to learn English well and figure out how to re-enter their field. This sounds obvious but many underestimate the level of English they need to pass licensing exams. I knew a man who was a radiologist in his country and couldn’t pass the x-ray licensing exam because of English. I also know a woman who was a dentist in her country and couldn’t pass the dental hygienist exam because of language skills. They think because they’re testing for a job that is beneath their training, the test will be easy-- but they miss the nuances in a question and sometimes fail to realize that often, the lower position is tested on material (technical matters) that the doctor/ dentist doesn’t learn.

Of the careers listed, nursing is often very open to immigrants. It is a hard study and may be difficult to complete the studies with a family (it will likely take more than 2 years for the AA) but jobs come with benefits.

17

Also, generally the “healthcare” related programs may pay a decent wage upon graduation, but they are often highly competitive.

I also agree w/ @2collegewego about using their native language in an employment situation. We have large numbers of Spanish speaking immigrants in this area. Many of the entry level jobs in the local businesses are looking for bilingual employees.

18

I appreciate all the input!

I have students from all over but the refugees speak languages that are uncommon and unfortunately being bilingual isn’t a plus for their job prospects.

I will definitely be in contact with the CC to get more information about prospect for students with a terminal associates degree. The CC website gives some information but many of the jobs listed would require a lot more education, and the associates degree is only the first step.

19

The adult ed program that I used to teach in (adult ESL) was part of the continuing education division of the community college. That gave us automatic connections with various departments, and there were a number of good joint projects. Two that could be worth developing where you are were ESL versions of the Nursing Assistant program, and a program for apartment building maintenance. If you want contact information, send me a PM.

The adult ed association in your state or region probably has some resources you can take advantage of that would help you better prepare your students for good work opportunities. If no one in your agency is in contact with that type of body, ask at the community college. They may be able to direct you.

Adult ed is the best! I’m teaching college age students now, and it just isn’t the same.

20

Common thread in the posts- talk to your local tech schools, the ones with the AA degrees. I was surprised to learn that many accounting jobs are done with less than the four year degree. Likewise with a lot of other local jobs. There will be many where having English as a second language won’t hurt even if it isn’t useful.