Ranked #13 in popularity, liberal arts general studies is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 102 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 9,766 bachelor's degrees in liberal arts general studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "General Studies (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "General Studies (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "AA in Liberal Arts" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "AA in Liberal Arts" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in General Studies" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in General Studies" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 4
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 2 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 2
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 2 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The liberal arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on liberal arts general studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of liberal arts general studies students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt liberal arts general studies students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized liberal arts general studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for liberal arts general studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
The liberal arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities//liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Checking offer "General Studies (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "General Studies (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in General Studies" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in General Studies" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 3
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 2 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 2
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 2 offers with relevance >= 1.0
ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Liberal Arts General Studies in the Southeast Region
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for liberal arts general studies students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
20 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts
University of South Florida - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. USF Tampa is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Tampa.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of South Florida - Main Campus earn a boost of around $10,402 above the average income of liberal arts general studies majors.
It's difficult to beat George Mason University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. GMU is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Fairfax.
Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies program at George Mason University earn $6,570 above the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
North Carolina State University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. NC State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Raleigh.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from North Carolina State University receive an earnings boost of approximately $6,833 over the typical income of liberal arts general studies majors.
James Madison University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. JMU is a very large public university located in the small city of Harrisonburg.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from James Madison University earn a boost of approximately $14,580 above the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
Middle Tennessee State University is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Murfreesboro.
Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Middle Tennessee State University make $10,246 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
U Miami is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Coral Gables.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Miami make $15,786 more than the average liberal arts grad.
UofM is a very large public university located in the large city of Memphis.
Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies major at University of Memphis earn $2,330 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the town of Charles Town, American Military University is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from American Public University System earn a boost of approximately $27,231 above the average earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
UNC Chapel Hill is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chapel Hill.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill make $2,881 more than the average liberal arts grad.
DEBUG: No relevant offers, showing generic ESYOH widget
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Liberal Arts General Studies students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
The liberal arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
