Associate's degrees are awarded to students in about two years of course work. An associate's degree is awarded by a community college and junior college but can be obtained online through both. A student that obtains an associate's degree either does not intend to pursue a bachelor's or obtains an associate's in order to transfer to a four-year university. Some students pursuing an associate's degree will use that degree as a form of continuing education to help them in their careers, as well. Some popular associates of arts degrees that can be obtained online are in general education, business administration, office administration and general studies.
An associate of science degree can be used to further an individual's career for continuing education or be used to transfer to a four-year university or trade school. Most associate's of science degrees can be earned in about two years with steady course work online. Some popular associate of science degrees a student can earn are criminal justice, accounting technology, fire science, applied sciences and histotechnology.
There are two forms of a bachelor's degree that a student can earn known as a bachelor of science and a bachelor of arts. Both of these degrees typically take four years to complete and are awarded by four-year universities or colleges. A bachelor's degree can be obtained online through online universities such as Park University or University of Phoenix or traditional universities that offer online degrees such as Florida International University or the University of Florida. Students do not typically have to be a resident of the state their online university is located in, which can broaden choices for a student. Some popular online bachelor's degrees students can find are in criminal justice, computer science, criminology, psychology, business administration and fire and emergency services.
A master's degree is obtained by a student who already has completed a bachelor's degree with a four-year institution. Most master's degrees are used to further education for job placement or to enter into further education such as law school or medical school. When obtaining a master's degree online, students will need to complete two years of full-time course work to complete the program. Some online universities that offer master's degrees to students are University of Phoenix, DeVry University, University of West Florida or American Intercontinental University. Some popular online masters degrees that students can find are career and technical education, secondary education, primary education, information systems, computer science and psychology.
Similar to a master's degree, a Ph.D., or doctorate degree, is used to further one's career or to pursue further education such as law, dentistry and medical schooling. Unlike bachelor's and associate's degrees, Ph.D. programs online are difficult to find and the selection of degree options for online schooling is not as broad. A Ph.D. is more specialized and is focused on one particular area and will take a student anywhere from three to six years to complete. In order to graduate with a Ph.D., a student must complete a thesis. The thesis is a research project and paper that is extensive and detailed within the student's degree field. Some Ph.D. programs students can find online include education, early literacy, English literature and philosophy.