Top 15 Online Bachelor of Liberal Arts Degree Programs

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Many crit­ics have pro­claimed that earn­ing a lib­er­al arts major is use­less with today’s STEM (Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy, Engi­neer­ing, and Math­e­mat­ics) focus. It’s pop­u­lar­ly believed that study­ing Eng­lish, phi­los­o­phy, his­to­ry, and oth­er lib­er­al arts leads direct­ly to the unem­ploy­ment line. This notion is false though because a lib­er­al arts edu­ca­tion can pro­vide tremen­dous val­ue. Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts pro­grams devel­op well-read pro­fes­sion­als with essen­tial rhetor­i­cal, crit­i­cal think­ing, and prob­lem-solv­ing skills.

In this arti­cle, we’ll dis­tin­guish the Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams avail­able across the Unit­ed States. We researched online col­leges offer­ing a flex­i­ble bach­e­lor’s degree in lib­er­al arts ful­ly online using Peter­son­’s search tool. A whop­ping 170 options were found, so we began nar­row­ing schools down based on nation­al rank­ings. Each col­lege had to be region­al­ly accred­it­ed and ranked by the U.S. News and World Report. Extra atten­tion was giv­en to online uni­ver­si­ties with mul­ti­ple awards and recog­ni­tions. Bach­e­lor’s degrees in lib­er­al arts had to be high­ly cus­tomiz­able, accept trans­fer cred­its, and offer finan­cial aid. Online tuition per cred­it hour was record­ed from the col­lege’s web­site. Oth­er fac­tors con­sid­ered were stu­dent sup­port, learn­ing tech­nol­o­gy, degree con­cen­tra­tions, class size, fac­ul­ty strengths, job place­ment, and reten­tion rate.

1. Boston University

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As a mem­ber of the pres­ti­gious Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties (AAU), Boston Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, non­sec­tar­i­an insti­tu­tion with “very high research activ­i­ty.” Known for pro­duc­ing 23 Pulitzer Prize and sev­en Nobel Prize win­ners, Boston Uni­ver­si­ty edu­cates more than 33,400 stu­dents across 18 schools each year. Boston Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed on a 135-acre urban cam­pus on the Charles Riv­er in Mass­a­chu­setts’ cap­i­tal, but there’s also an Online Learn­ing Divi­sion. Rec­og­nized in the Prince­ton Review’s “Col­leges That Pay You Back,” Boston Uni­ver­si­ty is ranked Amer­i­ca’s 41st Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 33rd Top School for Vet­er­ans by the U.S. News and World Report. The Times High­er Edu­ca­tion also placed Boston Uni­ver­si­ty among the Top 65 Glob­al Universities.

Online stu­dents from 75+ coun­tries log onto Boston Uni­ver­si­ty’s New Eng­land Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges (NEASC) accred­it­ed dis­tance learn­ing plat­form that’s won the Black­board Cat­a­lyst Award. Ful­ly online, the Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Stud­ies in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies can be com­plet­ed in just 30 months. Requir­ing 64 to 76 cred­its, the degree com­ple­tion pro­gram allows trans­fers to fin­ish their lib­er­al arts edu­ca­tion. Stu­dents devel­op col­lege-lev­el rhetor­i­cal acu­men through cours­es in the human­i­ties, includ­ing his­to­ry, phi­los­o­phy, eco­nom­ics, ethics, reli­gion, music, and lit­er­a­ture. Online class­es inte­grate asyn­chro­nous mate­r­i­al with live ses­sions via Adobe Con­nect. BU’s stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratio of 13:1 lends to inter­ac­tive stu­dent engage­ment. Online tutor­ing ser­vices are also avail­able for free with Smarthinking.

Online Tuition: $435 per cred­it hour

Learn more about Boston Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

2. Northeastern University

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Endowed for $729 mil­lion, North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, non­prof­it RU/VH research insti­tu­tion known for inte­grat­ing coop­er­a­tive edu­ca­tion. Since its found­ing in 1898, North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty has grown to serve a high­ly res­i­den­tial stu­dent pop­u­la­tion of 24,900. In the Back Bay neigh­bor­hood, North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty occu­pies a 73-acre urban cam­pus in Boston, Mass­a­chu­setts. Among North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty’s 65 aca­d­e­m­ic depart­ments is the Col­lege of Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies, which hous­es sev­er­al online options too. The U.S. News and World Report ranked North­east­ern the 47th Best Uni­ver­si­ty, 38th Top School for Mil­i­tary, and sixth Most Inno­v­a­tive Col­lege. Hon­ored with­in the Prince­ton Review’s “Guide to 353 Green Col­leges,” North­east­ern ranked third glob­al­ly in the Green­Metric Rank­ing of World Universities.

Stu­dents at North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty can select from 11 online bach­e­lor’s degrees, includ­ing a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Lib­er­al Stud­ies. This 120-cred­it pro­gram allows stu­dents to work with an aca­d­e­m­ic advis­er and select spe­cif­ic cours­es that meet their intel­lec­tu­al goals. Under­grad­u­ates can com­plete the self-designed major in four years full-time or six to sev­en years part-time. The lib­er­al arts core fos­ters rea­son­ing devel­op­ment in alge­bra, writ­ing, art, phi­los­o­phy, psy­chol­o­gy, his­to­ry, and eco­nom­ics. Online cours­es are held dur­ing two 15-week semes­ters each year for increased depth of knowl­edge. NEU offers online expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing through its hands-on, coop­er­a­tive pro­gram. Stu­dents could add an 18-cred­it Under­grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Account­ing online for enter­ing the finance sector.

Online Tuition: $504 per cred­it hour

Learn more about North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

3. University of Kansas

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Cre­at­ed by Gov­er­nor Thomas Car­ney in 1863, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas is the Wheat State’s flag­ship pub­lic, four-year research insti­tu­tion with a $1.86 bil­lion endow­ment. Based on a 1,100-acre urban cam­pus in Lawrence atop Mount Ore­ad, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas has branch­es in Wichi­ta, Sali­na, Tope­ka, Kansas City, Over­land Park, and online from any­where. Offer­ing fixed tuition rates, Kansas serves more than 28,000 stu­dents total with a 79 per­cent reten­tion rate. Accord­ing to the U.S. News and World Report, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas is Amer­i­ca’s 115th Best Uni­ver­si­ty, 55th Top Pub­lic School, and 94th Best Col­lege for Vet­er­ans. Forbes named the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas the Mid­west­’s 54th Best Col­lege. The Cen­ter for World Uni­ver­si­ty Rank­ings (CWUR) also placed Kansas among the world’s Top 200 Universities.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas’ Cen­ter for Online and Dis­tance Learn­ing grants four online bach­e­lor’s degrees, includ­ing a Bach­e­lor of Gen­er­al Stud­ies (BGS) in Lib­er­al Arts and Sci­ences. Accred­it­ed by the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion — North Cen­tral Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools (HLC-NCA), the degree com­ple­tion pro­gram is 100 per­cent online for stu­dents with 45 to 60 trans­ferrable cred­its. Online learn­ers progress through four main com­po­nents: the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas core, nat­ur­al sci­ence and math­e­mat­ics, world cul­ture and lan­guage, and lib­er­al arts breadth. Course­work is acces­si­ble from 15 dif­fer­ent depart­ments for inter­dis­ci­pli­nary, career-enhanc­ing edu­ca­tion. Online stu­dents can spe­cial­ize with cer­tifi­cates in World Busi­ness Cul­ture or Pro­fes­sion­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Five flex­i­ble start dates are avail­able for the eight-week min­imesters. There’s also a Plus 12 Pro­gram with flat-rat tuition for return­ing Jayhawks.

Online Tuition: $319 (in-state) or $832 (out-of-state) per cred­it hour

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kansas’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

4. Colorado State University

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For­mer­ly called Col­orado Agri­cul­tur­al Col­lege, Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1870 under the Mor­rill Art as a flag­ship pub­lic, land-grant doc­tor­al research insti­tu­tion. With near­ly $98 mil­lion in finan­cial aid, Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty edu­cates around 25,600 under­grad­u­ates and 7,400 post-grad­u­ates. Col­orado State is head­quar­tered on a 586-acre urban cam­pus in Fort Collins north of Den­ver, but there’s a well-devel­oped Glob­al Cam­pus. Boast­ing Amer­i­ca’s 86th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s Degrees, Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty is named the 127th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 61st Top Pub­lic School by the U.S. News and World Report. Ranked #3 on the Fac­ul­ty Schol­ar­ly Pro­duc­tiv­i­ty Index, Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty was list­ed in Con­sumers Digest’s Top 50 Best Pub­lic Val­ues Nationwide.

Join­ing the online Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty Ram fam­i­ly allows under­grad­u­ates to select from eight bach­e­lor’s pro­grams, such as the Bach­e­lor of Arts in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Lib­er­al Arts. This 120-cred­it online cur­ricu­lum lays the foun­da­tion for stu­dents to under­stand humans and their rela­tion­ships across the globe. With an online aver­age class size of 21, stu­dents ben­e­fit from sharp­en­ing the crit­i­cal think­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and ana­lyt­i­cal skills employ­ers seek. B.A. majors select from sev­en flex­i­ble minors: Anthro­pol­o­gy, Busi­ness, Eco­nom­ics, Geron­tol­ogy, Media Stud­ies, Polit­i­cal Sci­ence, and Soci­ol­o­gy. Pre­vi­ous col­lege cred­its must be trans­ferred with a min­i­mum 2.0 GPA. Online course­work cul­mi­nates in a senior cap­stone sem­i­nar. Tuition rates include stu­dent ser­vices like career advis­ing, library access, and tech support.

Online Tuition: $444 per cred­it hour

Learn more about Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

5. Oregon State University

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Hold­ing all four land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant, and sun-grant des­ig­na­tions, Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty is an elite pub­lic, co-edu­ca­tion­al research insti­tu­tion. Locat­ed on a main 420-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus in Cor­val­lis with­in the Willamette Val­ley, Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty has been rat­ed the safest school in the Pac-10. Across 12 col­leges, Ore­gon State enrolls approx­i­mate­ly 25,600 under­grad­u­ate and 4,900 post-grad­u­ate schol­ars. The U.S. News and World Report rec­og­nized Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty as the Unit­ed States’ 135th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 68th Top Pub­lic School with the sev­enth best online bach­e­lor’s degrees. With $285 mil­lion in research fund­ing, Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty is hon­ored in the Prince­ton Review’s “Best in the West” col­leges. The Aca­d­e­m­ic Rank­ing of World Uni­ver­si­ty’s (ARWU) also includ­ed Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty with­in the globe’s 200 Best Universities.

The Ore­gon State ECam­pus pro­vides flex­i­ble access to 40+ online pro­grams grant­ed North­we­set Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties (NWCCU) accred­i­ta­tion for qual­i­ty. In par­tic­u­lar, there’s a Bach­e­lor of Arts/Bachelor of Sci­ence in Lib­er­al Stud­ies pro­gram avail­able. Con­sist­ing of 180 quar­ter cred­its, this online degree gives stu­dents the valu­able oppor­tu­ni­ty to tai­lor their major around any lib­er­al arts theme. Con­cen­tra­tions could include Anthro­pol­o­gy, Eng­lish, Soci­ol­o­gy, The­atre, Psy­chol­o­gy, or Gen­der and Sex­u­al­i­ty Stud­ies. Some may declare the Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion focus to pre­pare for teacher licens­ing. More than 1,000 online cours­es span 90 sub­jects for diverse learn­ing options. Only 45 cred­its must be com­plet­ed at OSU, so trans­fers are wel­come. The ECam­pus pro­motes enrich­ing, engag­ing edu­ca­tion deliv­ered asynchronously.

Online Tuition: $280 per cred­it hour

Learn more about Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

6. St. John’s University

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Affil­i­at­ed with the Vin­cent­ian Fathers, St. John’s Uni­ver­si­ty is an accred­it­ed pri­vate, non­prof­it Roman Catholic teach­ing insti­tu­tion with a his­to­ry trac­ing back to 1870. St. John’s Uni­ver­si­ty’s 11 aca­d­e­m­ic divi­sions cater to more than 15,700 under­grad­u­ates and 5,600 post-grad­u­ates year­ly. In addi­tion to online learn­ing, St. John’s oper­ates a 105-acre urban cam­pus on Utopia Park­way in New York City’s Queens bor­ough and a branch in Man­hat­tan. List­ed among Amer­i­ca’s Top 100 Invest­ments in “The Wall Street Jour­nal,” St. John’s Uni­ver­si­ty is ranked the 153rd Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 124th Top Col­lege for Vet­er­ans by the U.S. News and World Report. St. John’s Uni­ver­si­ty hosts the coun­try’s 86th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams with a Forbes finan­cial grade of B.

As part of the Online Learn­ing Con­sor­tium (OLC), St. John’s offers six under­grad­u­ate degrees online through its Col­lege of Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies. The Bach­e­lor of Arts in Lib­er­al Stud­ies pro­gram draws on inter­dis­ci­pli­nary dis­ci­plines to devel­op stu­dents’ knowl­edge of West­ern and non-West­ern cul­tures. Vin­cent­ian val­ues are infused into the broad-based, 126-cred­it pro­gram to devel­op tomor­row’s glob­al lead­ers. Stu­dents can trav­el abroad to SJU’s Rome or Paris cam­pus­es for inter­na­tion­al per­spec­tive. Avail­able online minors are Admin­is­tra­tive Stud­ies, Busi­ness, Com­put­er Sci­ence, Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, Health Ser­vices, Jour­nal­ism, and Para­le­gal Stud­ies. Online stu­dents have access to the 1.7‑million vol­ume Uni­ver­si­ty Library. A lap­top can be pro­vid­ed for join­ing the inter­ac­tive vir­tu­al class­room on Blackboard.

Online Tuition: $1,288 per cred­it hour

7. University of Massachusetts — Lowell

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Char­tered in 1894 as the Low­ell Nor­mal School, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts — Low­ell is the sec­ond largest pub­lic, met­ro­pol­i­tan research insti­tu­tion with­in the UMass sys­tem. Grant­i­ng more than 190 degrees, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts — Low­ell edu­cates approx­i­mate­ly 17,500 each semes­ter. The New Eng­land Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges (NEASC) accred­it­ed col­lege is head­quar­tered on a 150-acre urban cam­pus in Low­ell with­in the lush Mer­ri­mack Val­ley near the New Hamp­shire line. With a selec­tive accep­tance rate of 62 per­cent, UMass Low­ell is ranked the 156th Best Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty and 84th Top Pub­lic School with Amer­i­ca’s 39th Top Online Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams by the U.S. News and World Report. Named to the Pres­i­den­t’s High­er Edu­ca­tion Hon­or Roll for four years, UML has the North­east­’s 40th Best Return On Invest­ment (ROI).

The Divi­sion of Online & Con­tin­u­ing Edu­ca­tion at UMass Low­ell offers eight under­grad­u­ate pro­grams ful­ly online, includ­ing the Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts. The well-bal­anced pro­gram is ide­al for work­ing adults who’ve had their col­lege edu­ca­tion plans dis­rupt­ed and need 24/7 course access. Stu­dents spe­cial­ize their stud­ies by pick­ing two con­cen­tra­tions from Art His­to­ry, Eco­nom­ics, Eng­lish, Gen­der Stud­ies, His­to­ry, Legal Stud­ies, Polit­i­cal Sci­ence, and Psy­chol­o­gy. Eight to 10 online cours­es are tak­en for each con­cen­tra­tion, and 12 cred­its of for­eign lan­guage are required. Stu­dents are advised by full-time fac­ul­ty who pos­sess real-world expe­ri­ence in their sub­ject. Enter­ing the 120-cred­it BLA pro­gram only requires a high school diplo­ma or GED certificate.

Online Tuition: $370 per cred­it hour

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts — Low­ell’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

8. Azusa Pacific University

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Fol­low­ing its “God First” mot­to, Azusa Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty is the largest pri­vate, non­prof­it Wes­leyan-Holi­ness insti­tu­tion in the Coun­cil for Chris­t­ian Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ties (CCCU). Region­al­ly accred­it­ed by the West­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges (WASC), Azusa Pacif­ic enrolls more than 10,700 stu­dents across 10 aca­d­e­m­ic divi­sions. Based in the San Gabriel Val­ley on a 105-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus out­side Los Ange­les, APU offers six off-site Cal­i­for­nia loca­tions and online learn­ing. The U.S. News laud­ed Azusa Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty as the 175th best col­lege and 139th top vet­er­ans school nation­al­ly. Diverse Issues in High­er Edu­ca­tion ranked Azusa Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty among the Top 100 Minor­i­ty Degree Pro­duc­ers. Forbes also rec­og­nized Azusa Pacif­ic as Amer­i­ca’s 270th Best Pri­vate School.

With­out step­ping foot on cam­pus, Azusa Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents can select from 34 online pro­grams. The Col­lege of Lib­er­al Arts and Sci­ences specif­i­cal­ly hous­es the Online B.A. in Lib­er­al Stud­ies. This inno­v­a­tive, accel­er­at­ed pro­gram inte­grates the Chris­t­ian faith into enhanc­ing stu­dents’ eth­i­cal world­view. The 120-unit cur­ricu­lum is split into 47 lib­er­al arts core units and 73 gen­er­al stud­ies elec­tive units. Azusa Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty struc­tured the 19-month degree com­ple­tion pro­gram to devel­op sub­ject-mat­ter prepa­ra­tion for ele­men­tary and spe­cial edu­ca­tion teach­ers. Grad­u­ates are qual­i­fied to pass Cal­i­for­ni­a’s Sub­ject Exam­i­na­tion for Teach­ers (CSET). The B.A. could also pre­pare indi­vid­u­als for psy­chol­o­gy, coun­sel­ing, social work, and more. Suc­cess coach­es guide stu­dents to an aver­age reten­tion rate of 84 percent.

Online Tuition: $400 (Lev­el 100–200) and $450 (Lev­el 300–400) per unit

Learn more about Azusa Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

9. University of North Carolina — Greensboro

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Estab­lished by Charles Dun­can McIv­er in 1891 as a wom­en’s col­lege, the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na — Greens­boro has grown into a pub­lic, co-edu­ca­tion­al lib­er­al arts insti­tu­tion. Endowed for $251 mil­lion, the inde­pen­dent uni­ver­si­ty holds the prized “Com­mu­ni­ty Engage­ment” des­ig­na­tion from Carnegie. Each year, UNCG enrolls more than 16,100 stu­dents across its five lead­er­ship areas. With 10 LEED cer­ti­fied build­ings, UNC Greens­boro encom­pass­es a 231-acre urban cam­pus in North Car­oli­na’s Pied­mont Tri­ad. The U.S. News and World Report cur­rent­ly ranks the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na — Greens­boro as Amer­i­ca’s 187th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 105th Top Pub­lic School. Wash­ing­ton Month­ly placed the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na — Greens­boro eighth nation­al­ly for social mobil­i­ty and 89th overall.

The Office of Online Learn­ing offers com­pet­i­tive­ly priced, South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools (SACS) accred­it­ed dis­tance pro­grams, includ­ing a Bach­e­lor of Arts in Lib­er­al Stud­ies. Avail­able 100 per­cent online, the cus­tomiz­able degree increas­es stu­dents’ pro­fes­sion­al skills with inter­ac­tive class­es capped at 30. Online cours­es can be com­plet­ed asyn­chro­nous­ly in sev­en-week or full-semes­ter lengths. Mate­r­i­al is acces­si­ble via Black­board and Can­vas from far-flung places like India and South Africa. Admis­sion to the 60-cred­it pro­gram requires hav­ing at least 60 trans­ferrable cred­its or an asso­ciate degree. Three spe­cial­ized tracks are grant­ed for Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies, Human­i­ties, or Social Sci­ences. Dur­ing the cap­stone sem­i­nar, online stu­dents research for an extend­ed crit­i­cal essay and cre­ate a Web-based portfolio.

Online Tuition: $161 (in-state) or $308 (out-of-state) per cred­it hour

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na — Greens­boro’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

10. Widener University

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Named after Philadel­phi­a’s promi­nent Widen­er fam­i­ly since 1972, Widen­er Uni­ver­si­ty has devel­oped from a mil­i­tary acad­e­my into a pri­vate, co-edu­ca­tion­al lib­er­al arts insti­tu­tion. Sit­ting atop a 108-acre urban cam­pus, Widen­er is locat­ed in Chester, Penn­syl­va­nia, just 14 miles south­west of Philly. The MSCHE-accred­it­ed uni­ver­si­ty also offers class­es in Har­ris­burg, Exton, Wilm­ing­ton, and online from any­where. Enroll­ment sta­tis­tics show that over 3,200 under­grad and 3,200 post-grad­u­ate stu­dents study at Widen­er year­ly. The U.S. News and World Report ranked Widen­er as the 187th Best Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty and 149th Best Col­lege for Vet­er­ans. Forbes crowned Widen­er Uni­ver­si­ty the 235th Top Research Insti­tute Nation­wide. In 2011, Newsweek named Widen­er the coun­try’s 19th Most Ser­vice-Ori­ent­ed Col­lege too.

Widen­er’s Cen­ter for Con­tin­u­ing Stud­ies has flex­i­ble enroll­ment options with evening, Sat­ur­day, and online class­es. The Bach­e­lor of Arts in Lib­er­al Stud­ies can be com­plet­ed 100 per­cent online for a breadth of aca­d­e­m­ic knowl­edge in the human­i­ties and social sci­ences. Online stu­dents lay a foun­da­tion of inquiry and prob­lem-solv­ing skills for var­i­ous pro­fes­sion­al paths. Great empha­sis is placed on ethics and civic lead­er­ship. The 120-cred­it pro­gram spans cours­es from pub­lic speak­ing to gov­ern­ment and psy­chol­o­gy. Online minors like Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, Gen­der and Wom­en’s Stud­ies, or Eng­lish could be added. Small class­es are pos­si­ble with a 12:1 stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratio. The port­fo­lio assess­ment pro­gram also allows for pri­or expe­ri­ence credits.

Online Tuition: $600 per cred­it hour

Learn more about Widen­er Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

11. University of Missouri — Kansas City

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Ini­tial­ly affil­i­at­ed with the Shawnee Methodist Mis­sion, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri — Kansas City has devel­oped into a pub­lic, state-fund­ed research insti­tu­tion in the Miz­zou sys­tem. Along with its online divi­sion, UMKC has a 157-acre urban cam­pus with­in the Rock­hill dis­trict of the Mid­west­’s sixth largest city. As a selec­tive uni­ver­si­ty accept­ing only 63 per­cent of appli­cants, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri — Kansas City enrolls more than 10,200 under­grad­u­ates and 5,400 post-grad­u­ates. Ranked in the top five LGBT-friend­ly cam­pus­es by Newsweek, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri — Kansas City was rec­og­nized in the U.S. News and World Report sur­vey for Amer­i­ca’s 135th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s Degrees. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri — Kansas City is the 194th Best Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty, 111th Top Pub­lic School, and 154th Best Pick for Veterans.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri — Kansas City Online offers three ful­ly asyn­chro­nous bach­e­lor’s pro­grams, includ­ing the Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts. This online degree com­ple­tion option is avail­able for stu­dents car­ry­ing at least 65 trans­ferrable cred­its. Stu­dents fin­ish their 120-cred­it degree by study­ing human­i­ties, fine arts, social sci­ences, and nat­ur­al sci­ences. The Col­lege of Arts & Sci­ences allows stu­dents to log in through Black­board to dis­cuss human issues of con­tem­po­rary, glob­al con­cern. Stu­dents will select a con­cen­tra­tion area, such as Bioethics, Clas­si­cal and Ancient Stud­ies, Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Writ­ing, Geron­tol­ogy, or Eco­nom­ics. Var­i­ous cours­es are deliv­ered each semes­ter to build a cus­tomized cur­ricu­lum. Although it holds HLC-NCA accred­i­ta­tion, please note the pro­gram isn’t autho­rized for Min­neso­ta, Utah, Indi­ana, Ken­tucky, Penn­syl­va­nia, Mary­land, or Vermont.

Online Tuition: $372 (in-state) or $832 (out-of-state) per cred­it hour

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri — Kansas City’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

12. Marist College

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Oper­at­ing study sites in 26 coun­tries, Marist Col­lege is a pri­vate, non­prof­it inter­na­tion­al lib­er­al arts insti­tu­tion ground­ed in Roman Catholic val­ues since 1929. Region­al­ly accred­it­ed by the Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion (MSCHE) for arts and sci­ence edu­ca­tion, Marist edu­cates approx­i­mate­ly 6,400 under­grad­u­ates and 900 post-grad­u­ates year­ly. Over­look­ing the Hud­son Riv­er, Marist has a 240-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus nes­tled in Pough­keep­sie, New York, just 78 miles north of Man­hat­tan. Accord­ing to the U.S. News and World Report, Marist is the North’s 13th Best Region­al Col­lege and third Most Inno­v­a­tive School with the 38th Top Online Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams nation­wide. Kiplinger’s Per­son­al Finance hon­ored Marist Col­lege as Amer­i­ca’s 57th Best Pri­vate Val­ue with 91 per­cent of fresh­men retained.

Through iLearn, Marist only offers one under­grad­u­ate pro­gram ful­ly online — its Bach­e­lor of Arts and Sci­ences in Lib­er­al Stud­ies. Busy work­ing adults can enroll 100 per­cent online or in a hybrid for­mat at the Fishkill Exec­u­tive Cen­ter to build the skills for com­plex pro­fes­sion­al respon­si­bil­i­ties. Up to 90 cred­its grad­ed “C” or high­er can trans­fer for degree accel­er­a­tion. Marist Col­lege is a Yel­low Rib­bon Pro­gram par­tic­i­pant to serve mil­i­tary too. Online cours­es are taught on the same 15-week semes­ter or a quick­er 10-week sched­ule. Lib­er­al arts con­cen­tra­tions include Amer­i­can Stud­ies, Eco­nom­ics, Orga­ni­za­tion­al Lead­er­ship, Project Man­age­ment, Psy­chol­o­gy, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, and Enter­prise Sys­tems. Stu­dents can select two to three tracks for the tai­lored 45-cred­it major.

Online Tuition: $650 per cred­it hour

Learn more about Marist Col­lege’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

13. University of Northern Iowa

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Estab­lished in 1876 for orphans of Civ­il War sol­diers, the Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa is a pub­lic, state-fund­ed high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion grant­i­ng over 90 majors. Sprawled across 900 urban acres, the Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa is sit­u­at­ed in Cedar Falls around 108 miles north­east of Des Moines. Annu­al­ly, UNI enrolls more than 11,900 under­grad­u­ates and 1,900 post-grad­u­ates, pri­mar­i­ly from Iowa. The U.S. News and World Report ranked North­ern Iowa as the Mid­west­’s 18th Best Col­lege and sec­ond Top Pub­lic School. Named among GI Jobs mag­a­zine’s “Mil­i­tary Friend­ly” schools, the Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa was crowned the 38th Best Bang for the Buck in Wash­ing­ton Month­ly. The Insti­tute of Inter­na­tion­al Edu­ca­tion also rec­og­nized the Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa for the fourth largest study abroad program.

The Con­tin­u­ing and Dis­tance Edu­ca­tion Divi­sion uti­lizes video con­fer­enc­ing tech­nolo­gies on Adobe Con­nect to sup­port four online bach­e­lor’s degrees. The Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Stud­ies pro­gram requires no on-cam­pus trips for adult learn­ers to fin­ish their broad-based col­lege edu­ca­tion. Online stu­dents can enroll any time and take up to nine months to com­plete self-paced course­work. The 120-cred­it bach­e­lor’s is struc­tured as a cus­tomized career advance­ment tool for indi­vid­u­als with an Asso­ciate of Arts degree. Stu­dents col­lab­o­rate with an advi­sor to forge their own path­way through the human­i­ties, nat­ur­al sci­ences, and social sci­ences. Cours­es are high­ly diverse from Ital­ian Renais­sance art to sub­stance abuse pre­ven­tion. UNI also part­ners with Ameri­Corps for a Cer­ti­fied Non­prof­it Pro­fes­sion­al (CNP) program.

Online Tuition: $296 (domes­tic) or $445 (inter­na­tion­al) per unit

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

14. Rowan University

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Divid­ed into 13 aca­d­e­m­ic units, Rowan Uni­ver­si­ty is a mid-sized pub­lic, state-fund­ed research insti­tu­tion that’s region­al­ly accred­it­ed by the Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion (MSCHE). Based on a 200-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus in Glass­boro, New Jer­sey, just 20 min­utes south of Philadel­phia, Rowan has exten­sion cen­ters in Cam­den, Strat­ford, and online from any­where. Rowan Uni­ver­si­ty serves more than 13,100 under­grad­u­ates and 2,000 post-grad­u­ates each year with a 17:1 stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratio. Ranked #2 nation­al­ly on the Social Mobil­i­ty Index, Rowan is the North’s 19th Best Region­al Col­lege and third Top Pub­lic School accord­ing to the U.S. News and World Report. Boast­ing 13 sus­tain­abil­i­ty awards, Rowan was named a “Top Green Pow­er Pur­chas­er” by the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (EPA). Forbes crowned Rowan the 156th Best Pub­lic Col­lege in the Unit­ed States.

Rowan Glob­al offers an Online B.A. in Lib­er­al Stud­ies: Humanities/Social Sci­ence degree com­ple­tion pro­gram for trans­fers with 24+ col­lege cred­its. Designed for work­ing adults, the 100 per­cent online degree pro­motes rig­or­ous inquiry to build essen­tial inter­per­son­al, ana­lyt­i­cal, and deci­sion-mak­ing skills. Online cours­es strive to devel­op cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ty for assum­ing upper-lev­el lead­er­ship roles in a glob­al work­force. The 120-cred­it cur­ricu­lum is com­plet­ed part-time over approx­i­mate­ly sev­en semes­ters. Eight-week mod­ules help fos­ter learn­ing in phi­los­o­phy, reli­gion, his­to­ry, pub­lic rela­tions, writ­ing, and com­mu­ni­ca­tions. The user-friend­ly online class­room inte­grates dis­cus­sions, dig­i­tal slideshows, video lec­tures, and group projects. Start dates occur every Fall, Spring, and Sum­mer for stu­dents with a min­i­mum 2.0 col­lege GPA.

Online Tuition: $455 per semes­ter hour

Learn more about Rowan Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

15. California State University, Chico

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As part of the 23-cam­pus CSU sys­tem, Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Chico is the sec­ond old­est pub­lic, co-edu­ca­tion­al teach­ing insti­tu­tion first found­ed in 1887. Con­fer­ring 160+ aca­d­e­m­ic degrees, Chico State edu­cates more than 16,000 under­grad­u­ates and 1,100 post-grad­u­ates annu­al­ly. Built along Big Chico Creek, Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Chico occu­pies a 119-acre rur­al cam­pus in the Sacra­men­to Val­ley only 89 miles north of Cal­i­for­ni­a’s cap­i­tal. Accord­ing to the U.S. News and World Report, Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Chico is the West­’s 42nd Best Col­lege and ninth Top Pub­lic School with the 173rd Best Fine Arts Pro­gram nation­wide. Wash­ing­ton Month­ly hon­ored Chico State as the region’s 28th Best Bang for the Buck. Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Chico was also a final­ist for Pres­i­dent Caleb Williams’ High­er Edu­ca­tion Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice Award.

Cel­e­brat­ing its 40th anniver­sary, the Chico Dis­tance & Online Edu­ca­tion divi­sion expands the uni­ver­si­ty’s West­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges (WASC) accred­it­ed pro­gram offer­ings. Web-based mate­r­i­al and live video stream­ing can help stu­dents achieve a Bach­e­lor of Arts in Lib­er­al Stud­ies. This online degree com­ple­tion pro­gram accepts 60 to 70 trans­ferrable cred­its for grad­u­at­ing in just 24 months full-time. Lib­er­al arts majors can choose from two online minors in Soci­ol­o­gy or Career and Life Plan­ning. Gen­er­al edu­ca­tion cours­es will meet Cal­i­for­ni­a’s State Con­tent Stan­dards for K‑8 Teach­ers, but becom­ing cre­den­tialed requires extra on-site course­work and practicum. The mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary cur­ricu­lum explores lit­er­a­ture, art, envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, phi­los­o­phy, psy­chol­o­gy, math, social evo­lu­tion, and much more.

Online Tuition: $2,364 (0–6 units) or $3,513 (6.1+ units) per semester

Learn more about Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty — Chico’s Online Lib­er­al Arts Degree Pro­grams here.

Why Should I Get an Online Liberal Arts Degree?

One AACU study found that four out of five employ­ers want appli­cants who’ve stud­ied lib­er­al arts. Near­ly 95 per­cent agreed that com­mu­ni­ca­tion and rea­son­ing skills were more impor­tant than major. Career suc­cess could begin here because one-third of For­tune 500 CEOs hold lib­er­al arts degrees, includ­ing promi­nent names like Ken Chenault, Ted Turn­er, and Howard Schultz.

The good news is major­ing in lib­er­al arts does­n’t spell dis­as­ter in today’s eco­nom­ic mar­ket. For­go­ing a spe­cial­ized degree can still unlock high-pay­ing jobs for lib­er­al arts grad­u­ates. Avail­able career oppor­tu­ni­ties include econ­o­mist, entre­pre­neur, sales man­ag­er, archae­ol­o­gist, art direc­tor, pub­lic rela­tions spe­cial­ist, writer, social work­er, teacher, real­tor, exec­u­tive sec­re­tary, and more. Accord­ing to the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Employ­ers, the aver­age start­ing salary for lib­er­al arts majors was $41,605 in 2014. If you’re look­ing for a well-round­ed edu­ca­tion where you’ll learn about the world from dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives, check out these Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts Degree Programs:

Relat­ed:

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