2027 Best Two-Year Degrees With Scholarship Options

Business Programs

A business administration or accounting associate degree can support entry-level office, bookkeeping, or operations work; an Associate of Arts (AA) or Associate of Science (AS) may also provide a route to a bachelor's degree. Compare transfer agreements before choosing courses.

School-foundation scholarships and local business awards may be available, sometimes with major or residency restrictions. Choose this field if you want broad options, but check job postings: management roles usually require experience, and many professional accounting careers require further education.

Healthcare Programs

Career-focused Associate of Applied Science (AAS) programs in dental hygiene, diagnostic medical sonography, and radiologic technology can prepare students for specific clinical roles. Their fit depends on local program availability, accreditation, admission requirements, clinical capacity, and state credential rules.

Hospital, professional-association, and college-foundation scholarships are worth checking, but awards may not cover equipment, screenings, or travel to placements. Choose a specialty only after confirming that its clinical schedule and credential pathway work where you intend to practice.

Information Technology Programs

IT associate degrees may emphasize networking, cybersecurity, software development, or technical support. An AS may suit students planning to transfer; an AAS often emphasizes hands-on workforce skills. Look for scholarships through college foundations, technology employers, and local industry groups.

Compare lab access, projects, internship opportunities, and how courses map to your target job. A cybersecurity degree alone rarely substitutes for the experience many security positions require, so technical support or network administration may be a more realistic first step.

Nursing / Pre-Nursing Programs

An associate degree in nursing (ADN) can lead toward registered nurse licensure after graduation and passage of the required licensing exam; state nursing-board requirements also apply. Pre-nursing programs instead prepare students to apply to a nursing program and do not independently qualify them for RN licensure.

Nursing-school, hospital, and workforce scholarships may have service or academic conditions. Before applying, distinguish general college admission from competitive nursing admission, and confirm clinical schedules, program approval, and examination eligibility.

Criminal Justice Programs

A criminal justice AA or AS often suits transfer to a bachelor's program; a career-oriented AAS may focus more on public-safety operations. Scholarships may come from college foundations, civic organizations, or public-safety associations.

Match the curriculum to a specific goal before enrolling: police hiring standards vary by agency and can include academy training and background checks, while some federal roles require a bachelor's degree. An associate degree does not itself confer law-enforcement authority.

Psychology / Counseling Programs

A psychology or counseling-studies AA or AS is usually a transfer starting point, not a qualification to practice independently as a counselor or psychologist. Students may explore entry-level support work, but duties and requirements vary.

College-foundation and transfer scholarships can make the longer education pathway more manageable.

If your goal is licensed counseling, map the required bachelor's, graduate education, supervised experience, and state license before committing to an associate program; confirm that its credits will apply toward that plan.

The best two-year degree for career opportunities depends on whether you want a defined occupation soon or flexibility to transfer. Clinical programs offer clearer routes toward specific jobs but typically have selective admission and in-person requirements.

Business and IT offer broader entry points; psychology and many criminal justice paths depend more heavily on later education or employer-specific training.

This comparison summarizes the main decision for each field. "Scholarship lead" identifies where to search, not a promise that an award is available or that every student qualifies.

If your target job does not require an associate degree, compare the degree's full cost with a certificate, apprenticeship, or other fast track career programs. The shorter path makes sense only if its training meets employer or licensing requirements.

Among the fields covered here, some licensed healthcare occupations have particularly high occupational median wages. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a May 2024 median annual wage of $94,260 for dental hygienists.

That is a wage for workers in the occupation, not an expected starting salary or the measured earnings of everyone who completes a dental hygiene associate degree.

Compare salary potential with the requirements for entering each occupation. A higher occupational wage is less useful to you if the nearest accredited program has limited seats, substantial clinical expenses, or a credential that will not meet your state's rules.

Start with the college's financial-aid office and foundation: they can identify awards for associate students, specific majors, local residents, and students with financial need.

Then check community foundations, employers, unions, and relevant professional associations. Submit the FAFSA if eligible so the school can assess federal aid alongside institutional awards; ask how an outside scholarship would affect the rest of your aid package.

A manageable search follows three steps, which help you avoid spending time on awards you cannot use:

1. Request the program's full cost of attendance, including fees, supplies, commuting, and any clinical expenses.
2. Filter scholarships by enrollment status, major, residency, deadlines, and any renewal or service conditions.
3. Compare your estimated net cost after grants and scholarships, then ask whether awards remain available if you study part time or transfer.

Never pay a fee to "unlock" a scholarship. For transfer-oriented degrees, check scholarship rules at both the community college and your prospective bachelor's institution.

First, confirm that the college holds institutional accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Institutional accreditation matters for federal-aid eligibility and may affect transfer, but it does not guarantee that individual courses will count toward a bachelor's major.

Next, check whether the specific program needs specialized accreditation or state approval. This is particularly important in nursing, dental hygiene, sonography, and radiologic technology, where the applicable credential pathway depends on the occupation and state.

Ask the program which accreditor or approving body applies, whether its current status covers your campus or delivery format, and whether graduates meet the educational requirements for the credential you want. Get transfer-credit decisions from the receiving institution rather than relying on an informal assurance.

Many community colleges admit applicants with a high school diploma or equivalent, but admission to the college does not mean admission to every major. Nursing and other clinical programs may separately require prerequisite courses, grades, an entrance assessment, a background check, immunizations, or a competitive application. Requirements vary by program and state.

Ask admissions for the current major-specific checklist and application calendar. If you have prior college coursework, request a transfer evaluation that shows which credits fulfill general education, prerequisites, and major requirements - not merely how many credits the school will accept. Standardized college-admission tests may not be required, but placement or program-specific assessments may still apply.

Many associate degrees require roughly 60 credits, making two academic years plausible for a student who can take a full-time load and access required courses on schedule. Prerequisites, limited clinical seats, part-time enrollment, and courses offered only in certain terms can extend that timeline.

A short individual course is not the same as a short degree; claims about an associate degree in 6 months online free should be checked for assumptions about previously earned credits, remaining requirements, and actual fees.

The College Board's 2024-25 public two-year in-district tuition-and-fee average of $4,050 is a starting point, not a two-year program price. Add books, software, equipment, transportation, living expenses, and any clinical or examination costs.

Compare each school's estimated total cost to completion after grants and scholarships. If you plan to transfer, include the cost of the bachelor's coursework you will still need.

Online study can be a strong fit for students balancing classes with work or caregiving, especially in transfer-oriented business, psychology, or some IT courses. It is not automatically self-paced: check meeting times, deadlines, lab access, and proctored assessments.

Campus classes may offer easier access to equipment and face-to-face support. Nursing and many allied-health programs require in-person labs or clinical placements even when lectures are online.

Choose by the schedule you can sustain, not the delivery label. Ask for a sample term schedule showing every required campus visit, clinical shift, and course start date.

If you hope to continue beyond a bachelor's degree, formats such as competency based masters degrees are a separate, later decision; they do not remove an associate program's clinical or transfer requirements.

Most programs combine general education - such as writing, mathematics, and communication - with courses in the major. Business students may study accounting and management; IT students may complete networking or programming labs.

Healthcare and nursing curricula can add science prerequisites, supervised labs, and clinical rotations. Psychology and criminal justice programs often include introductory theory, research, or law-related courses.

The degree label is only a clue to its purpose. An AA or AS is often designed with transfer in mind, while an AAS commonly emphasizes workforce preparation; schools can structure them differently.

Compare the actual course map with both your intended job's requirements and, if applicable, the receiving university's major requirements. Credits that transfer as electives may not shorten the bachelor's program.

The associate degree and the credential to practice are separate. An ADN graduate seeking RN licensure must meet state board requirements and pass the NCLEX-RN. Allied-health graduates may need a professional examination, certification, and/or state license, depending on the specialty and location.

Criminal justice graduates may need academy training or other agency-specific qualifications; IT certifications can be useful for particular jobs but are not universal requirements.

Before enrolling, ask the program to identify the exact credential its graduates pursue and whether its curriculum meets requirements in your intended state. Counseling and psychologist licensure generally require education well beyond an associate degree, along with supervised experience and examinations.

Students exploring research-oriented PhD programs online should not assume that an online doctorate meets clinical licensing requirements; the relevant board and program must be checked separately.

• Fast Facts: Tuition costs of colleges and universities (76) | ed.gov https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp
• Kansas Promise Act Scholarship | Kansas Board of Regents https://kansasregents.gov/students/student_financial_aid/promise-act-scholarship
• High Demand Occupations Requiring an Industry Recognized Credential | Mass.gov https://www.mass.gov/info-details/high-demand-occupations-requiring-an-industry-recognized-credential
• [PDF] IOWA COMMUNITY COLLEGES TUITION & FEES https://educate.iowa.gov/media/7502/download
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• Your financial path to graduation | consumerfinance.gov https://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college/your-financial-path-to-graduation/
• Transfer pathways | Minnesota MyHigherEd https://myhighered.mn.gov/transfer-students/transfer-pathways
• Types of Financial Aid - LOSFA https://mylosfa.la.gov/paying-for-college/types-of-financial-aid/
• Healthcare | Apprenticeship.gov https://www.apprenticeship.gov/apprenticeship-industries/healthcare
• Glossary - College Scorecard - Department of Education https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/glossary/