While most Associate’s Degrees require two years of study, many new traditional degree programs and online colleges offer a lesser form of the degree after only one year in the form of a certificate. This is beneficial for many students, because while they are not receiving a true degree, they are still attaining a certification that can prove to be vastly beneficial in any industry. Currently, one-year Associate’s Degrees are pretty limited to specific fields, but the next few years will probably witness a shift from the two-year program to the one-year program.
Utah State University’s College of Agriculture offers two different Associate’s Degrees which require only one year of study: Agricultural Machinery Technology and Ornamental Horticulture. The technology certificate program familiarizes students with agricultural equipment and allows students to experience what an occupation in this field will be like. However, this degree is very specialized, and most students seek employment with farm suppliers, corporate farms, and related careers. Ornamental horticulture offers a similar future for its students, complete with an introductory step into the farm industry.
On a completely different specialization, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York offers one-year Associate Degree programs as well. These are also very specialized and revolve around the fashion industry and the promotion of fashion. This is appealing to many students who are attempting to break into the fashion industry (a very tough endeavor in this economy). Many students seeking this degree already have a Bachelor’s in a related field, but want a certificate in fashion on their resume to make themselves more appealing to potential employers. Learning the inner workings of the fashion industry is important to establish yourself as a knowledgeable “fashionista”.
Most colleges additionally offer one-year programs for information technology, which sometimes only require four to six months of study. While these are useful for supplemental certificates, many students rely only on this certificate to land a job in the IT industry. Simply learning more about technology and computers can assist students in learning what they need to succeed in the IT field. Furthermore, most IT specialists earned a degree in a completely unrelated field, proving that you do not need a specialized computer science degree but merely a few classes teaching the basics about information technology.
As one-year certificate programs become more popular within the education field, more programs will open up appealing to a wider variety of students, rather than these limited programs. Earning a certificate in only one year serves to save you thousands of dollars, as well as valuable time. After a year of study, students will be able to enter the career-world immediately, equipped with a useful certificate to list on their resume.
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