Last week, I received this question from Cherie:

Which is correct?
the College’s associate’s degree programs or
the College’s associate degree programs?

First things first.

If the college uses associate degree programs, I’d recommend:

The college’s associate degree programs.

If the college uses associate’s degree programs, I’d avoid the double possessive by putting it like this:

The associate’s degree programs at the college.

You have probably noticed that I changed College (up style of capitalization) to college (down style of capitalization).

Amy Einsohn, author of The Copyeditor’s Handbook offers several examples of down style versus up style:

• down style: The president announced; The Truman administration; After the secretary of state left
• up style: The President announced; The Truman Administration; After the Secretary of State left.

Here’s another example of down style, from The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition:

Albion College was founded in 1835. The college has some illustrious alumni.

Chicago favors down style. So do I. With up style, my eyes strain over the many ups and downs.

What do you think? Any comments, questions?

Cheers,
Tara
Tara’s Writing Studio