Possessives and Attributives
Q. There has been some discussion at the university at which I work as to proper grammar when referring to an Associate of Science degree. While many guides (although I can’t find this in CMOS) call for the use of bachelor’s degree and master’s degree (both with an apostrophe), they do not indicate if it should be associate degree or associate’s degree.
A. I would write “associate’s degree.” An “associate of applied science” degree or an “associate in arts” degree is a degree awarded to an associate and in that sense an associate’s degree. An “associate degree” would mean, literally, a degree that is associate in nature, rather than a degree that conveys upon its recipient the status of associate in a given field. This is the same reasoning that results in the analogous master’s and bachelor’s degrees.
