Welcome to Angelicum’s Associate Degree Track

Informational Links for Parents & Students

Our agreement with Catholic International University is a huge step forward in our efforts over the last 25 years to have the BA awarded at age 18 as it was through the High and Late Middle Ages into the Renaissance and late 19th century. This is precisely one of the key educational reforms proposed and advocated by Dr. Mortimer Adler and Professor Jacques Maritain – and others—who were very critical of the modern American practice of delaying Bachelor’s degrees to age 22. This reform, with others, we have assiduously worked for over the last 25 years as part of a restoration of the authentic classical form of education. As these prominent intellectuals pointed out, the deviation of modern American education from standards developed over 2,300 years was economically wasteful at best and morally dangerous at worst. In their view, history had proven that the formation of the intellect by circa age 18 not only inspired young men and women to pursue the good, the true and the beautiful before they encountered many corrupting influences, but also arms them to identify and resist the many errors and allurements of modern culture. Restoring the BA degree to its proper place at c. age 18 not only eliminates the modern prolonged adolescence that comes with delaying the BA to age 22, but also avoids the heavy burden of college debt that many students and parents must bear because of the exorbitant cost of modern American education. To that end, the Angelicum Academy has long offered, and many have completed our college credit or Associate Degree Tracks that enable students to earn up to 78 college credits or an Associate Degree by 12th grade, and a now Bachelor’s degree. All of these programs are affordable, saving tens of thousands of dollars in college costs. This new program with CIU adds the ultimate option whereby serious students can receive dual credit sufficient to receive a BA degree at the completion of 12th grade. Whether you are an Angelicum student or parent of a student currently enrolled at any level in our K-12 program it is not too early or too late to plan for college. The online AA/BA programs save tens of thousands in tuition, room and board (a 40% to 85% savings over current tuition charged by colleges).

AA & BA DEGREE FAQ

How long does it usually take for a student to earn an Associate degree and/or a Bachelor’s degree?

Associate degrees require 60 college credits (usually twenty 3-credit courses). Bachelor’s degrees typically require 120 college credits (usually forty 3-credit courses), sometimes a bit more. That is true regardless of the age of the student. Here is the typical schedule for earning those degrees in college:

Associate Degree: 15 credits (5 courses) per semester x 4 semesters (Fall and Spring for two years) = 60 credits

Bachelor’s Degree: 15 credits (5 courses) per semester x 8 semesters (Fall and Spring for four years) = 120 credits. 

Before specifically discussing the Angelicum Academy AA Degree and BA Credit programs, let’s first take a look at ways students commonly use to reduce the time to earn a degree.

Summer School. If a student decides to take 10 courses in summer schools, for 30 credits, that reduces the time required to complete the usual requirements for a bachelor’s degree to three years of college/university. That would require the student to take 5 courses over two summers, or, 3 courses over three summers (+ 1 credit in a four-credit course), or, 2 credits two summers (one after 12^th grade) and 3 credits two summers.  Any of these scenarios reduce the time required to earn a BA to three years. Because students may also begin college in the summer after their 12^th grade, students may reduce the time to earn an AA in college to one year and four months.

Taking Extra Courses. Many students take six or more courses some semesters, usually when their other courses are not particularly difficult ones. Taking 6 courses per semester, rather than 5, over five semesters would earn them 15 extra credits, reducing their time at college by ½ a year (one semester). Combined with summer schools (above), this would reduce their time at college for a BA to 2 ½ years.

Other Ways. There are several other ways students earn additional college credits and shorten the time required to earn their AA and/or BA such as: testing out of courses; taking college courses in earlier years of education; early college programs; dual enrollment; concurrent enrollment; correspondence courses; signing up for study trips with credit; independent study courses; preparing special papers; completing a capstone project, a senior thesis or dissertation. 

Testing Out. Many colleges allow students to “test out” of some courses, such as algebra, history, sociology and others. This requires passing a test prepared for the purpose of evaluating whether the student already possesses the requisite knowledge in that area of study to give them college credit for it without taking a college course. Many such students earn 3, 6, 9 ,12 or even 15 credits – a whole semester. CLEP, the College Level Examination Program, also provides a means to earn college credit via testing without taking college courses.

AP, IB, ACE. Most high schools now offer students courses that qualify for college credit such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses, the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma or individual Diploma Programme courses taken during high school or homeschool. The same is true for courses recommended by the American Council on Education’s ACE Credit for college credit. 

Early College. 48 states now allow and encourage high-school-age students to enroll in early college programs which usually allow students to earn about 60 college credits and an Associate degree by the time they’ve completed high school; concurrent credit courses offered at high schools for college credit with local community colleges or with colleges and universities which offer such arrangements; dual enrollment (taking courses from college professors, often on campus, evenings or online). Students in these programs often enter college with one to two years of credits already earned, many with an Associate degree completed.

To summarize, there is widespread and increasing national recognition that most high-school-age students are able to begin earning significant college credits in 9^th to 12^th grade, including an Associate degree, and that many college students are willing and able to complete more than 30 credits per year in college through one or more of numerous ways, reducing their time in college or university by one-to-two years or more, saving their families tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and related costs, and allowing them to embark upon their careers and desired vocations without years of unnecessary delay and debt. 

Would you please detail how an Angelicum Academy  student can earn an Associate degree and/or Bachelor’s degree from 9^th to 12^th grade?

Certainly. Colleges and universities are required to provide a minimum of 25% of the credits needed for their degrees. The rest can be earned elsewhere (such as the Angelicum Academy) and transferred in by agreements. We have a number of such agreements with accredited colleges, both Catholic and secular.

For nearly a decade, students in our AA program have been earning their Associate degrees by completion of 12^th grade. They did this simply by completing our 4-year Great Books program (for 12 college credits per year = 48 total) and five courses (15 credits or 25% of the AA degree) online from an associated college = 63 total credits and their Associate degree. We refer to this as our AA track. We have prepared a SAMPLE AA DEGREE PLAN chart HERE

For the BA degree, Angelicum students complete our four-year Great Books program (accepted by numerous colleges and universities for 48 college credits), and beginning the summer after their sophomore or “Romans Year,” they will begin taking two college courses per CIU semester (on average), for each of the Summer, Fall 1, Fall II, Spring I and Spring II semesters for a total of ten college course per year = 30 credits. By the end of their Junior year they will have completed 66 credits, enough for their AA degree. 

Our four Theology Online courses by Fr. Joseph Fessio, Th.D., a former student of Pope Benedict XVI, earn them an additional 12 credits. These courses are asynchronous and may be taken anytime of year. We recommend students complete them over time, when they have time, two per year in their Junior and Senior years. 

During their Senior year, motivated Angelicum students aiming at their BA by the conclusion of 12^th grade, who successfully completed their AA degree in their Junior year with a B (3.0) GPA, would repeat taking the same number of courses (2 per CIU semester: Summer, Fall 1, Fall II, Spring I, Spring II) for the final 30 credits needed for their BA. We have prepared a chart illustrating this schedule HERE.

To summarize the credits earned per the above: Great Books courses-48 credits; Theology Online-12 credits; Junior Year ten courses-30 credits; Senior Year ten courses-30 credits. TOTAL: 120 credits and BA degree. 

Note that the final 30 credits needed for a BA in the scenario above, are not included in the Great Books BA Credit Track, which includes 90 credits, not 120. So the final 30 credits needed anticipate the students taking the first 30 CIU credits in their Junior (Middle Ages) year, and last 30 in their Senior (Moderns) year for the then-current CIU tuition for those last 30 credits needed to reach 120 total credits from CIU.

As noted above, more and more high school and homeschool students are earning their AA degrees by 12^th grade by taking college courses in various ways. This is simply the natural extension of that development, which also represents a gradual return to the age at which students in the Middle Ages through the late 19^th century matriculated college and university, which was typically 14 years of age (eg. Oxford and University of Paris, the most prestigious universities of the day), earning their BA degrees in 3-4 years. To read about that historical norm for beginning college-level studies we have posted an article about it HERE. It is also the norm recommended by both great educational philosophers Drs. Mortimer J. Adler and Jacques Maritain. 

Are the Angelicum Academy AA and BA programs designed for extraordinary students? 

Yes and no. As we have noted above, more and more high school, homeschool and college students are earning more and more college credits, earlier and in less time than the previously typical four years in college. There is no screening process to limit any of the various means of doing that to “extraordinary” students, other than simply successfully passing the courses, one step or level at a time (B being the required final grade for much of it). In other words, the various paths to earning college credits described above are open to any student, as are colleges and universities in general, who has successfully completed the prior step. 

We have all read of students such as Michael Kevin Kearney who completed his BA at age 10, or Eugenie Carys de Silva who became the world’s youngest person to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Intelligence Analysis with a 4.0 GPA (Summa Cum Laude) at the age of fourteen, and there are many such examples one can find online. Youth is no barrier to college entry. However, these are prodigy’s, and not typical students. In the 1700s few people entered college before reaching age thirteen, but many received baccalaureate degrees at the age of sixteen or seventeen.  Our students earning degrees typically graduate at age eighteen, some older.

It is the “many” motivated students the Angelicum Academy hopes to help provide the opportunity achieve their goals, not every student, not even every Angelicum Academy student. This has been true of our AA program. About half of our Great Books students join that program aiming for their AA degree while in high school. We anticipate about half of those students will join our BA program, as many have. 

What if a student begins the Angelicum AA or BA program and then decides it’s not for them?

Of course that happens, and such students have several options: they can simply reduce the number of courses they take to whatever number they are comfortable with and proceed more slowly, even taking years longer if they wish; or switch to the Great Books High School track; if they are on the BA track they can switch to the AA track; take time away from the program, or of course they can withdraw from the program. They would remain free later to reverse those choices as well. We are here to assist students in whichever way they desire to proceed with their education, including offering opportunities not yet available elsewhere, not to dictate to them.

Can students transfer laterally into the Angelicum Academy in grades 10-12, and join the AA or BA programs? 

Students can transfer into the Angelicum Academy at any level, however It would not be possible to join the BA program after 9^th grade and earn the BA by the completion of 12^th grade. The BA program assumes the student will be taking the Great Books Program during both their 9^th and 10^th grade years. A student could however join the AA program in 10^th grade and earn their AA by the completion of 12^th grade.  We would need to advise such a student what courses that would entail taking and when. Keep in mind, while such later transfer students might not be able to complete their degrees by 12^th grade, they would normally be able to complete them in one to three years, depending upon their prior studies.