Four-year degrees, also known as bachelor's degrees or baccalaureate degrees, provide students with four years of post-secondary education through colleges and universities. Bachelor of art degrees focus on majors in the humanities, while bachelor of science degrees offer majors in mathematics, areas of science or types of engineering. Some institutions also offer bachelor's degrees in professional fields such as nursing. The types of degrees, available majors and required curricula depend on each college or university.
Not every high school graduate immediately pursues a four-year college degree. Some students do not directly enroll in four-year programs, but start college at two-year programs instead. Many community colleges, as well as some universities, offer two-year degrees, also known as associate degrees. Two-year degrees, in contrast to four-year degrees, may focus on remedial studies or general studies, which may prepare students for the academic levels required at four-year degree programs. Some students elect to continue their educations by later transferring to four-year colleges. Interested students should research how to carry over their prior coursework and apply credits towards earning their bachelor's degrees by contacting a counselor specializing in working with transfer students at the four-year university they wish to attend.
While many colleges and universities promote four-year bachelor's degrees, not all graduates finish their programs within the four-year time frame. In 2009, "USA Today" publicized a U.S. Department of Education report analyzing the nation-wide graduation rates of undergraduate students who enrolled in 2001 with full-time college programs. The report noted that only 53 percent of those students had graduated six years later. Some colleges and universities had reported graduation rates of even lower than 53 percent, at 30 to 50 percent, and even as low as eight percent for one school in New Orleans that had faced natural disaster.
Four-year college degrees may provide job applicants with increased salary potential when compared with individuals who have limited their educations to high school or associate degrees. The National Center for Education Statistics, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, released information in 2008 comparing employment and earnings statistics for high school graduates and bachelor's degree program graduates aged 25 to 34. Bachelor's degree holders held full-year, full-time employment at a rate of 72 percent, while high school graduates held similar employment at a rate of 62 percent. Median earnings also increased with higher-level degrees: high school graduates had median annual earnings of $30,000, with associate degree holders at $36,00 and bachelor's degree holders at $46,000.