2 year AAS degree (w/certs) vs. 4 year CIS degree

I am 32 years old, married and father of three and am going back to school in the fall. I have been working as a security guard for most of my working life so I have no paid experience in an IT profession, but I have always had an interest in computers, specifically in the idea of one day becoming a systems administrator.

I'm about two years away from a four year degree in CIS, but the degree does not really prepare me for any certifications and I don't get any hands on either since it is almost all online.

So I found this two year Associates degree at a community college about an hour away. It would only take about 18 months to finish and it would prepare me for several Certification tests.

Here are the list of certs the degree prepares a student for:

A+
CCNA
MCSA
MCITP
Linux+
Security+
(One other for wireless LAN's)

I had decided that I would be better off getting this degree and getting certified than going with the four year option without any real preparation or certs even though it would only take me a little longer to get the four year degree.

Does this seem like the better option?

I realize I likely won't start out as a sysadmin, but from what I have read online, experience and certs are the two far more important assets in this field.

Any advice or thoughts is greatly appreciated.