The Associate in General Studies (A.G.S.) degree from Oakton is for students who want to earn a degree while taking career-specific courses and certificates so they can get a leg up in their career. With the A.G.S., your degree program will touch on a variety of topics relevant to your interests. If you want to pursue a career in areas like cannabis transportation, logistics and supply chain management, paraprofessional education,managing and securing computer networks or more, the A.G.S. can help you build skills that can lead to a new career or career advancement. It can also be used to build a transfer pathway to a four-year institution and further study in your specialized field.
Even if you haven't selected a major or specialization for your education, the A.G.S. allows you to bundle the courses you have already taken into a degree that may provide economic advancement at your current job. Or you can use the A.G.S. to start earning general credits that allow you to specialize in a career area while developing collaboration, communication, literacy and critical thinking skills.
You'll take on an array of math, science, humanities and global studies courses as well as essentials like Composition I and Effective Speech, developing skills for your studies and career while exploring a wide range of topics.
If you are interested in pursuing this degree, you are required to meet with an advisor to develop an academic plan. That plan must then be approved by an Academic Affairs administrator. It will need to meet the specific educational goals defined by you and your advisor.
If you earn the A.G.S. and plan to transfer to a four-year bachelor's program, you may be subject to a line-by-line audit of your completed coursework to make sure they can transfer.
Transfer Pathways
Connect with your academic advisor at Oakton early on to discuss your interests and options to help you develop a roadmap and course schedule that meets your goals to smoothly transfer to a partner institution to obtain your Bachelor's.
Enrolling at Oakton College can save you thousands of dollars and help you earn more over the course of your career. Our tuition is among the lowest in the region, and we offer many ways to bring your costs down even more.
99 percent of Oakton students graduate without debt.
To help you get there, you can apply for a scholarship, which you don’t have to pay back. We award $12 million in scholarships annually. Financial Aid includes grants, loans, and other forms of financial assistance that can reduce your costs of attending college.
We offer payment options that give you control over how you pay. Pay all at once or spread your payments over the course of the semester.
As your community college, we serve students from various backgrounds. We aim to make the application process as easy and as clear as possible for everyone.
We can help you get started on a degree or certificate. Applying to Oakton is fast and easy.
Your first step before you begin your studies is filling out an admission application and completing your enrollment process.
Yes, they should. Oakton is part of the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), and our curriculums are designed to allow you to transfer seamlessly to other Illinois institutions. Still, it's best you work with your advisor to be sure you're taking the proper courses required by the four-year institution you intend to transfer to. General Education courses should be selected from the IAI Course List.
