Associate degrees and technical certificates can earn graduates more in their first year out of college than four-year degrees.
College Measures, a partnership between the American Institutes for Research and Matrix Knowledge Group, used information from five states to collect data on how much graduates earned their first year after graduation.
The ability to earn higher wages by completing certificate programs and technical associate degrees demonstrates a faster, cheaper route into the labor market, according to the report.
Ja’Net Glover, associate director of employer relations at the Career Resource Center, said there are other factors that earn higher salary jobs out of college.
“Depending on the job at hand, employers are not only looking to have the knowledge skills and abilities that are required to perform a job,” she said. “They are also looking for a candidate to have interpersonal skills, to be able to communicate and to be professional and represent the organization appropriately.”
But in the long run, Glover said generally students with four-year degrees and advanced degrees will earn more than students with two-year degrees.
According to the report, students who graduated from “flagship campuses” who entered the job market directly after graduation did not earn more than graduates of regional college campuses.
Heather Buss, a 22-year-old Associate Science in Nursing (ASN) student at Santa Fe College, said she chose to get her associate of the arts first to lock in a degree her first two years of college.
“Whether having block degrees such as AA, ASN, then BSN shows progress in one’s education or not, I feel as though human resources of medical facilities like to see that versus one four-year degree,” she said.
Buss is required to have an amount of hours in the lab and clinical setting throughout her program, which she said makes her a stronger candidate for jobs.
Salil Phadnis, a 19-year-old biology sophomore, said he chose UF because an associate degree is not an option for his career path.
“What I’m trying to do with the four years I have here is prepare for med school and at the same time get that base of neuroscience knowledge,” he said. “I haven’t given associate versus bachelor’s much thought because a bachelor’s degree is just one step toward my actual goal.”
A version of this story ran on page 3 on 9/6/2013 under the headline "Some grads earn more sooner"
