The Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences (B.A.A.S) degree is just one of many types of four year degrees (i.e., BA, BS, BBA, BSW, BFA). It is a fully accredited bachelor’s degree with three distinguishing characteristics:

  1. It is designed to help transfer students from community colleges and technical institutions, non-traditional students with college credit, and veterans or active-duty military personnel finish their bachelor’s degree faster;
  2. it does this by accepting many types of credits that other degree programs won’t accept; and,
  3. it is a multidisciplinary degree that gives students the flexibility of choosing up to three different subject areas of study that pertains to their career interests.

To learn more about the next step to earning a BAAS degree, please see the checklist under How To Apply.

Transfer Students

UNT has a national reputation as a "transfer-friendly" university. One of the reasons is the BAAS program. While you are required to take at least 30 hours from UNT, you can transfer up to 84 qualifying credit hours from community colleges, technical institutions, and/or other universities and apply it toward your B.A.A.S degree.

Of course, the B.A.A.S program at UNT accepts more traditional common core credits earned at community colleges (American history, political science, English, etc.) or other universities. But what makes the B.A.A.S program so valuable are the types of credit that will transfer. Certain courses are designed to provide students with immediately marketable career skills and are offered only at community colleges and technical institutions. They are sometimes referred to as "workforce," "occupational," "technical," or "vocational" courses. Unlike the degree programs at most universities, the B.A.A.S program at UNT will accept these workforce credits and apply them toward your bachelor’s degree. That can save you a lot of time and money.

PDF icon workforce-credits-table.pdf

Veterans or Active Military

UNT has been named a top Military Friendly School by MilitaryFriendly.com eight years in a row and a Top 10 Miliary Friendly Tier One Research Institution in the nation. One of the reasons is the B.A.A.S. degree, which is a program uniquely suited for veterans and active-duty military.

During your service, you may have had training which qualifies for college credit. The American Council on Education (A.C.E.) evaluates military training courses and occupation-based skills, knowledge, and abilities gained from military service. These evaluations are used to determine if the training you received is equivalent to what is taught in some college level courses. These equivalencies are converted into recommendations for awarding college credits. Because the B.A.A.S program accepts these credits, you save both time and money.

For active duty military, reserve military, or veterans of the army, navy, marine corps and coast guard the occupational specialization may consist of credit awarded for formal training received in the service. The American Council on Education (A.C.E.) evaluates military training courses and occupation-based skills, knowledge, and abilities gained from military service using the Joint Service Transcript . This evaluations are used to determine if the training you received is equivalent to what is taught in some college level courses.

You can learn more about this and how to get a copy of your Joint Service transcript from the American Council on Education.

For Veterans, Reservists  and active duty personnel of the United States Air Force have their their training and service included in a transcript from the Community College of Air Force (CCAF) which is part of the Air University. The Community College of the Air Force is a fully accredited degree-granting institution.

UNT also offers a variety of resources tailored to the needs of veterans and military personnel. Please visit UNT Veteran Services to learn more about the GI Bill, military discounts, scholarships, psychological services, and external resources.

Non-Traditional Students

You might be a non-traditional student if:

  • You are 25 or older and are just starting college, or are returning to finish your degree;
  • You work full-time and can only take a few courses every semester;
  • You have primary responsibility as a caregiver for children or other family members;
  • You can only take courses offered online;
  • You have credits from one or more colleges or universities; or,
  • You have a number of credits from a prior major(s) that you no longer plan to pursue.

The B.A.A.S. degree program is a great option for non-traditional students because it has flexible delivery options. We offer courses online, face-to-face, and in blended format. You can choose what works best for your schedule and how you like to study. Whether you are interested in business, criminal justice, psychology, non-profit management, or a host of other disciplines, we have course offerings in a delivery format suitable for your needs.

Students who prefer face-to-face or blended instruction can select the campus that is closest to their home or work. The B.A.A.S program offers courses at the main campus in Denton, at the UNT Frisco locations and at the Collin Higher Education Center in McKinney.

Many non-traditional students return to complete their degree in order to improve promotion opportunities in their current job. Their primary goal is the fastest possible route to a degree. The B.A.A.S facilitates this process through its unique ability to consolidate and utilize previously earned credits—whether these are workforce credits or regular college course credits. This saves you both time and money.

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