Bachelor’s Degree: Correct English Usage?

Factual Questions
1

My boss and I, as well as another team member at work, have been having an ongoing debate regarding proper English usage for referring to someone who has a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science (or any one of various other undergraduate, such as Bachelor of Engineering) degree.

As neither of them is, technically speaking, a native English speaker, I maintain that I am correct in stating that proper general usage would be “bachelor’s degree” when speaking in general terms. They say it is “bachelor degree,” which to me seems more like a degree in bachelorhood. (Plus they keep wavering back and forth, which I think lends credence to my argument.)

I am really tired of having them both miscorrect my work; oddly enough, we have no hard-copy dictionary in the office, but I’ve poked around online and found lots of instances of my method (including the Census Bureau and Stanford University, both institutions one would hope could get that sort of thing right), but nothing from an authoritative source on English usage per se.

I’d be happy to run to the library one of these days, but am sorely lacking in time for that sort of thing lately…anyone know where I could find some further info?

2

I have always seen it the way you describe (“bachelor’s”) and never the other way. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to remind people that “A.B.” is a bachelor’s degree (Artium Baccalaureus), as is “B.A.” (Bachelor of Arts).

3

You are correct. Stick to your guns. If they can’t accept its common useage on institutional government websites, you won’t find any source good enough.

I suggest you challenge them to find examples of their preferred phrasing on line.

4

It’s “Bachelor’s Degree.” Here’s a bit of reading.

5

Here is something a bit more official.

6

It’s a bachelor’s degree.

7

As everyone else said, it’s “bachelor’s degree.” But, “He has a Bachelor of Engineering degree.” Or, “He has a bachelor’s in engineering.”

Do you colleages say about about someone who has, e.g., an MBA, “He has a master degree”?

8

I don’t normally correct my typos in another post -just wastes space - but that sentence is supposed to read, "Do your colleagues . . . " not "Do you colleages . . . .] Not correcting the typo could mean I am talking to Eva Luna, which I am not.

9

One does, the other doesn’t. It irks me to no end, let me tell you.