I’m just following the advice from my professor.
He the degree goes into a certain order once you pass general studies you will meet the merits for the AS or AAS to focus on the core programs. These rules are vague and if they did exist I would have finished but oh well, I’m always ahead of the course so that’s a good thing, and finishing my work on time. Spring will be over soon. I don’t mind 
Indeed I will have my Associate in General Studies degree in May and I have a chose to purse an AAS in nursing or dental hygiene.
I could just transfer to a bachelor’s in nursing at a 4 year Uni and once that degree is over. I can work a stable job and think about a plan if I want to pursue DMD/DDS.
Lots of people have found that masks protected them from catching colds, the flu, or the stomach flu! It’s a silver lining in this horrible pandemic.
The issue is that having an AGS may prevent you from receiving Pell for your AAS in Dental Hygiene or your AAS in Nursing (depending on your choice) because you’d have a CC degree and would not be expected to use Pell for another CC degree. I don’t know for sure but ask the Financial Aid dept?
If you’re missing one “Humanities” course that prevents you from getting the AGS it may in fact be a saving grace since it’d allow you to take the classes you really need for the degree and path that you want.
You will to look into the degree programs yourself, so, for reference:
https://catalog.ccc.edu/academic-program-requirements/nursing-aas/
In order to apply for the AAS in Nursing, you need to complete this program, which is entirely online with morning or evening sessions (your choice). There are pre-reqs but GOOD NEWS 1° you have completed all the pre-reqs already and 2° when you graduate, you’ll have a steady, better-than-minimum-wage job you can have part time alongside your studies till you’ve got your RN degree.
https://www.ccc.edu/colleges/malcolm-x/departments/pages/-nursing-assistant-(basic)-.aspx
Art and Music count as “Art” for your gen eds, they don’t count as “Humanities”, your advisor got that wrong. They’re certainly enjoyable and cited as the type of courses that surveyed people have the fondest memories of and which they still appreciate to this day (because they discovered new things that led to more new things and improved their enjoyment of life) but they’re not Humanities (which would be Literature, Philosophy, History).
Note that having a degree in Dental Hygiene WILL NOT help you with Dental School and may actually HINDER your application. Dental Hygiene is a good pick if you want to have a job in 2 years but you can’t “grow” from it. Once you’re a Dental hygienist, there’s no path to do something else with the degree and “Bachelors of Dental Hygiene” are a rip off, they do NOT lead to anything else than the AS leads to. Dental Hygiene is a quick way to get to a job and stay there.
BAD NEWS, brace yourself
In fact it made me very upset/angry
on your behalf because you’re on limited time with Pell grants and you were made to waste at least half your credits, all while working super hard taking 6 courses a semester to catch up with your peers.
So the bad news…
This is what I found about the AGS and it really looks like your adviser didn’t give you proper advice if you are really interested in transferring or getting a degree. Perhaps your adviser noticed that at first you were directionless and needed some remedial coursework and didn’t pick up on the fact you did find a direction later on, thus s/he never course-corrected his/her advice to adjust to your new goals. Anyway… Here’s what I found:
ASSOCIATE IN GENERAL STUDIES DEGREE 203
(60 Credit Hours) A.G.S.
The Associate in General Studies (A.G.S.) degree is customized to meet the unique needs of students
with objectives that are different than those of the transfer degrees or the occupational degrees. It is an
alternative degree comprising 20 credit hours in general education and 40 credit hours in
program electives.
The A.G.S. is not designed for transfer to a four-year college or university. The general education
requirements for the A.G.S. do not fulfill IAI (Illinois Articulation Initiative) General Education Core
Curriculum guidelines.
@MYOS1634 has been very helpful, as always.
@kelsmom, what are the options for a student who is completing a cc degree that isn’t intended to transfer to 4 year schools? Has this student lost their Pell eligibility for cc classes? If he’s one class away from a major that won’t transfer could he change his major to nursing at the cc?
Trust me if I could post screenshots, I would.
The AGS is for students who don’t know what they want to pursue, they can just finish it up and come back next year or when they feel ready what they want to pursue another higher degree at CC.
All the classmates I had in my course want to pursue an AAS nursing once they finish up their gens and eds for the AGS degree. All of them got accepted into the AAS and got covered by Pell grants.
Once I start working, most of the tax money will go into educational funds probably and will help out another student in need who will successfully complete their gens and eds. That’s the best part about taxes
Another advisor had told me when I was on campus 'You don’t need a BS degree or another CC, you can sit back and relax most students don’t right away jump into a BS until they figure everything out or if they want an AAS.
I know RDH is just one profession and you can’t climb the ladder, with a nursing degree you can climb many opportunities.
I see in the class schedule they added the icon ‘IAI’ this counts for certain courses like Speech 101, Basic Chemistry 1, Calc 1 also counts but Pre-Calc does not count as an IAI mostly remedial.
What do you expect an advisor would put a student into higher degrees until they are rest assured the student can handle this academic lifestyle. There are many students who went into the AS in Physics and got burned out easily since they were not up to date with being academically skilled.
A student who has been out of school for a long time got my GED in 2017 and started my first year at CC in Fall 2019. I’m glad I got put in this degree to get a feel of college life and the course work, now that I’m at Calculus 1 level, I can critically think correctly since my skills got rusty. I asked them I wanted something to brush up my rusty academic skills.
I have spoken to my financial aid department, they checked and said we can cover those courses as long as it meets ‘degree requirements’ if I chose pottery course that would not meet the merits and would pay out of pocket.
I totally agree AGS was the right degree to enroll in when you started and had to “get you sea legs” with college so to speak.
But once you started speaking about Physics, Dental Hygiene, or Physics, you should have been switched to the relevant program.
As far as I can tell, student stay in AGS till the end if they don’t have an academic plan or goal, perhaps if they just plan on staying at the CC for 2 more years to get a degree after switching to that degree, but the idea is to use your time and Pell money, once you’ve figured out what you want to study, to actually work toward that goal.
It happens at 4-year colleges too: lots of students start as “Undecided”. But they don’t remain 4 semesters “undecided”: after 3 semesters, they have to decide what they want to major in, complete the pre-reqs, or risk being “held back”.
Even If I chose to switch to a new program in my second semester, you have to graduate all the way till the AGS is done then choose. That’s jumping back and forth, they don’t allow that. Due to FAFSA being strict.
I don’t know how CC work in you’re location. But they may have different rules.
@napnemeanix, be sure to document everything that you are being told, and get information in writing (email is fine) to the extent possible. I would suggest working with an academic advisor on an academic plan and sticking to that plan.
Financial aid rules definitely vary by school, based on the school’s policies. There are federal regulations, but schools do vary in how they interpret and enforce them. Schools “may” allow students to appeal if they exceed time-to-degree, but some choose not to do so. Other schools allow appeals and may allow additional time as long as the student strictly follows an academic plan.
Likewise thanks
While FAFSA seems to be covering many of your CC costs, the commodity being lost is - time.
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I stated earlier and I’ll reiterate: one of the most frustrating things I see in CC (and yes it happens to students anywhere) is inability to decide and do. A Student thinks more time will help them make their choice. The truth is, as time goes by and options fade, they no longer have much choice left.
Life is filled with decisions and sometimes you can see yourself taking more than one path. At some point…Know yourself. Know your available options, time investment, cost investment. Know the life you want and realize the most optimal path for YOU to arrive there.
Then,
Make your decision, commit to a plan, and focus forward. OR, the decision is: Not making a decision at all.
PS - You do NOT need an Associates to move forward. Choose path. Transfer earned credits thus far. Move forward with classes required for decided path.
Very true, I’m not going to sign up for something right away and sign documents without even pre-planning things, things do consume time and I have to use it carefully in my situation.