Certificate as good as Associate's?

From INsideHigherEd:

"But the study, which was conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses and the Hudson Institute and financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also promulgated some findings that challenged the status quo, especially in suggesting that low-income students who struggle in high school get more of an earnings boost by earning a certificate than they do achieving an associate degree at a two-year college."

Interesting. One plausible reason mentioned in the article is that many people get generic a.a. degrees and then don't go further. An English A.A. is less likely to boost your wages than a certificate that means you've acquired skills that people will pay for.

Of course, the article is valuing the economic benefit, not the less tangible personal ones. Maybe you want a degree because you want to know more, not because you want to make more money.