No. In the system the federal government uses to count what US colleges award, a certificate and a degree are different award levels, and no certificate is a degree at any length. The confusion is understandable. Both are earned by completing a program at a college, both are listed on a transcript, and some certificates take longer than some degrees. But a certificate records completion of a program of study, while a degree is a level of attainment the institution confers, and the two sit on separate tracks in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the reporting system every institution receiving federal student aid must file.
Certificates are not a minor category. US postsecondary institutions conferred 1,303,184 certificates below the associate’s degree level in 2022–23, more than the 1,254,808 associate’s degrees awarded the same year, according to the Digest of Education Statistics. And certificates do not only sit below degrees: two federal certificate levels sit above the bachelor’s and the master’s.
The federal award levels, in order
IPEDS asks every institution which award levels it offers, and the list separates certificates from degrees explicitly. Certificate levels are defined by length, in full-time academic years, semester credit hours, or clock hours of instruction. Degree levels are defined by the amount of college-level work they require.
| Award level as IPEDS lists it | Certificate or degree | How the level is defined |
|---|---|---|
| Award of less than 12 weeks | Certificate | Fewer than 300 clock hours of instruction |
| Award of at least 12 weeks but less than 1 academic year | Certificate | 300 to 899 clock hours |
| Award of at least 1 but less than 2 academic years | Certificate | At least 30 but fewer than 60 semester credit hours, or at least 900 but fewer than 1,800 clock hours |
| Award of at least 2 but less than 4 academic years | Certificate | 60 or more semester credit hours, or 1,800 or more clock hours, still below the bachelor’s level |
| Associate’s degree | Degree | Normally at least 2 but less than 4 years of full-time equivalent college work |
| Bachelor’s degree | Degree | Normally at least 4 but not more than 5 years of full-time equivalent college work |
| Postbaccalaureate certificate | Certificate | Study beyond the bachelor’s that does not meet the requirements of a master’s degree |
| Master’s degree | Degree | Normally 1 to 2 academic years of work beyond the bachelor’s |
| Post-master’s certificate | Certificate | Study beyond the master’s that does not meet the requirements of a doctorate |
| Doctor’s degree, whether research/scholarship, professional practice, or other | Degree | The highest level, either a research doctorate or the degree required to practice a licensed profession |
Older NCES tables list a single certificate level of “less than 1 academic year”. The current collection splits it into the two short-term levels above, so that programs of a few weeks are counted separately from programs of a few months.
Two things follow from the table. A two-year certificate can require more credit hours than an associate’s degree and still not be a degree, because the award level is set by what the institution confers. The hours a student spends in class do not change it. And a post-master’s certificate is held by people who already hold a graduate degree, so “certificate” says nothing by itself about the level of the holder’s education. The level printed on the award does. For how long each one actually takes, see our hubs on how long it takes to get a certificate and how long it takes to get a degree. For the order of the degrees themselves, see degrees in order.
Certificate, certification, diploma, degree
Four words get used interchangeably and mean four different things. The clearest split is who awards the thing and what the award is evidence of. The Bureau of Labor Statistics draws the line between a certification and a license this way: a license is “awarded by a governmental licensing agency” and “gives legal authority to work in an occupation,” while a certification is “awarded by a professional organization or other nongovernmental body,” is “not legally required in order to work in an occupation,” and “requires demonstrating competency to do a specific job, often through an examination process.” Neither is an academic award at all.
| Term | Who awards it | What it takes | What it is evidence of | Expires? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate | A college, university, or career school | Completing a program of study at a defined award level | Completion of that program | No |
| Degree | A college or university | Completing a full program at the associate’s level or above | A level of postsecondary attainment, conferred and recorded | No |
| Diploma | The institution that made the award | Nothing extra, because it is printed once the award is conferred | The document announcing an award, degree or otherwise | No |
| Certification | A professional organization or other nongovernmental body | Demonstrating competency, usually by exam | That you met that body’s standard as of the test | Usually, and must be renewed |
| License | A government licensing agency | Meeting the state’s criteria, such as a degree or a state exam | Legal authority to work in the occupation | Usually, and must be renewed |
Here is the practical test. A certificate and a degree are things a school awards for coursework completed. A certification and a license are things a body grants for competence demonstrated, and both can lapse. A diploma is a document and not a level of attainment, which our guide to what is a diploma covers. Certificates of achievement, participation, and completion handed out by employers or clubs are a fourth thing again, with no academic standing at all. See achievement certificates. A NASM certificate shows the difference in practice. It is issued by a testing body rather than a school, and it lapses every two years unless it is renewed.
When a certificate is the better choice
The Bureau of Labor Statistics assigns every occupation a typical entry-level education, and one of its categories is the postsecondary nondegree award, the label for jobs normally entered with a certificate rather than a degree. In the projections released September 8, 2026, that category covered 10,679,100 jobs in 2025, projected to reach 11,284,600 by 2035.
| Typical entry-level education | Jobs, 2025 | Projected, 2035 | Change | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High school diploma or equivalent | 60,319,000 | 61,503,400 | +2.0% | $48,050 |
| Postsecondary nondegree award (certificate) | 10,679,100 | 11,284,600 | +5.7% | $49,910 |
| Associate’s degree | 3,554,100 | 3,728,700 | +4.9% | $64,990 |
| Bachelor’s degree | 42,870,100 | 45,292,000 | +5.6% | $96,480 |
Read across, the certificate category is growing faster than the high school category and pays about $1,900 more at the median, while the bachelor’s category pays roughly $46,600 more. Read down, the more useful observation is that the certificate category is three times the size of the associate’s category: a great many specific, well-paid occupations are entered with a certificate, and that is where the choice is actually made, occupation by occupation instead of credential against credential. Healthcare is the clearest example. Every occupation below is one the Occupational Outlook Handbook assigns to the postsecondary nondegree award, with May 2025 median pay.
| Occupation entered with a certificate | Median annual pay, May 2025 |
|---|---|
| Surgical assistants and technologists | $64,700 |
| Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses | $64,400 |
| Massage therapists | $58,450 |
| Medical records specialists | $51,140 |
| EMTs and paramedics | $48,150 |
| Dental assistants | $48,070 |
| Medical assistants | $45,690 |
| Phlebotomists | $45,230 |
So a certificate is the better choice when the target occupation is one of these. The program is shorter, the cost is lower, and the degree adds nothing an employer is asking for. It is the worse choice when the target occupation lists a degree as the typical entry requirement, or when a state license depends on holding one. Teaching, engineering and accounting all work that way, and no certificate substitutes. Our comparison of earnings by education level sets out what the federal data associates with each level across the whole workforce.
Do certificate credits count toward a degree?
Often, but only when the certificate is credit-bearing. A credit-bearing certificate is built from courses on a transcript, each carrying semester or quarter credit hours, and those credits can be applied to a longer credential at the same institution. Noncredit certificates such as continuing education, workforce training and bootcamps produce no transcript credits, and nothing carries forward automatically.
Community colleges design the credit-bearing kind to stack deliberately. Ivy Tech Community College publishes the ladder plainly. A short-term certificate takes 3 to 9 months depending on the program, and the college tells students to “stack your certificate credits into a technical certificate,” which takes about a year, and then to “stack your technical certificate credits into an associate degree,” which takes about two. Each step is a credential the student can stop at, list on a resume, and go to work with, and none of the credit is spent twice.
Three questions decide whether stacking will work in a specific case. The first is whether the certificate is credit-bearing, with credit hours on the transcript. The second is whether it is designed as part of a program sequence at that college or assembled from electives. The third matters when the degree will be earned somewhere else, and it is whether the receiving institution will accept those credits in transfer. That decision belongs to the receiving school and not to the sending one. Ask the receiving registrar first, before you enroll.
How each award is documented
A degree is conferred in the institution’s records, and the diploma is printed afterward to announce it. A certificate is usually documented on the transcript and, at most schools, with a printed certificate instead of a diploma. The University of Wisconsin-Madison registrar states the rule for a large public university: diplomas list “the student’s legal name or name in use/preferred name, degree earned, and any applicable degree-level Honors,” and both majors and certificates “appear on your transcript only, not on your diploma.” Diplomas there are mailed roughly 6 to 8 weeks after the end of the semester, which is why the record exists well before the paper does.
That asymmetry matters when someone asks for proof. The transcript shows the certificate, the courses behind it, and the degree if there is one; the diploma shows only the award named on its face. Employers and schools that verify credentials check the institution’s records instead of the document. Our guide to diploma vs transcript covers which to send, and what an associate’s degree looks like shows the document at the first degree level.
Replica certificates for display
Framed certificates fade, get damaged, or go missing in a move, and the issuing school may take weeks to reprint one. ValidGrad makes novelty replica certificates for display and prop use through our certificate maker. Current pricing and turnaround are listed there.
These are replicas sold for display and novelty. No school awards them, no record stands behind them, and nothing on them can be checked against a registrar. A replica must never be used to claim a credential you do not hold or to answer a verification request; see our terms. If you need a document with standing, the school that made the award is the only source.
Frequently asked questions
Are certificates the same as degrees?
No. They are separate award levels in the federal reporting system, and a certificate at any length is never a degree. What they share is the issuer. Both are awarded by an institution for completing a program of study, and both appear on the transcript.
Can you call a certificate a degree?
Not accurately, and not on an application. A resume, a job application or a licensing form that lists a certificate under education should name it as it was awarded, for example “Certificate in Medical Assisting” with the school and year. Calling it a degree misstates the credential, and it is the kind of claim an employer’s verification check is designed to catch.
Is getting a certificate just as good as a degree?
For a specific job, often yes; in general, no. Occupations the BLS assigns to the postsecondary nondegree award category had a median wage of $49,910 in May 2025, against $96,480 for those normally entered with a bachelor’s degree. The certificate wins on time and cost, the degree on range. It opens occupations the certificate cannot, and it is the prerequisite for graduate study and for several licenses.
Can I get a job with a certificate instead of a degree?
In more than 10.6 million US jobs, yes. That is the size of the postsecondary nondegree award category in the 2025 BLS data, covering occupations from licensed practical nurse to surgical technologist to phlebotomist. Check the Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for the target occupation first. It names the typical entry-level education and any license required.
Is a certificate considered higher education?
Yes, when a postsecondary institution awards it. Certificates below the associate’s level are counted in the federal postsecondary statistics alongside degrees, 1.3 million of them in 2022–23. A certificate of achievement or completion handed out by an employer, a club or an online course provider is a different object and carries no academic standing.
Sources
- NCES, IPEDS, Degree-granting status and level of programs offered. The award levels institutions report, with clock-hour thresholds.
- NCES, IPEDS Glossary. Definitions of certificate award levels, associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, doctor’s degrees, postbaccalaureate and post-master’s certificates.
- NCES, Digest of Education Statistics, Table 318.40. Degrees and certificates conferred, 2022–23.
- BLS, Employment by typical entry-level education (released September 8, 2026). 2025 employment, 2035 projections and median wages by education category.
- BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Healthcare Occupations. Entry-level education and May 2025 median pay by occupation.
- BLS Career Outlook, Will I need a license or certification? Definitions of license and certification.
- Ivy Tech Community College, Stackable credentials. Certificate to technical certificate to associate degree.
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Registrar, Diplomas. What is printed on a diploma and where certificates appear.
All sources checked September 13, 2026.