Which college degree will reign supreme in our showdown?

It's a higher education battle for the ages: Should you get a Bachelor's degree or an Associate's degree?
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It’s a higher education battle for the ages: Should you get a Bachelor’s degree or an Associate’s degree? Let’s say you are stuck in a job that is going nowhere and you want to make the jump to the next round. You are probably thinking about going to college, and while going the distance for a Bachelor’s degree still is the best way to land a well-paying career, there are some drawbacks which limit its return on investment like student debt or length of study. Maybe an Associate’s degree from the right school could be the right weight class for you. More companies are requiring at least some college or an Associate’s degree outright and this number is projected to grow over the next decade. A two-year degree or certification may be all that you need. It’s a tough choice and you need to have all the data at your disposal to make an informed decision. We’ve put both degrees into the ring to see which one will come out on top, so LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! Round One: Average Lifetime Earnings over a Full-Time 40-year Career
  • Bachelor’s: $2.3 million.
  • Associate’s: $1.7 million.
Round Two: Total Tuition Cost
  • Bachelor’s: $38,000 or $9,000 per year.
  • Associate’s: $7,000 or $3,500 per year.
Round Three: Student Debt
  • Bachelor’s: 66 percent of graduates from public 4-year colleges carry student loan debt for an average of $26,000.
  • Associate’s: 60 percent of graduates carry ZERO student loan debt.
While you can’t beat the affordability and one-two punch of an Associate’s degree, there are many advanced careers out there that cannot be accessed without a Bachelor’s degree. And four-year universities still have the allure and campus lifestyle that remains an essential part of the American dream. It’s hard to pick a winner out of the two, but be a champion of your own destiny and do your research so you can come out on top! Join the Conversation: What degree are you planning on obtaining? How did you find out the information you needed to make this decision? Tell us your story on our Facebook page.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.