If you pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #13 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 7 schools in South Carolina to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts general studies students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 440 bachelor's degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.
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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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 South Carolina.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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University of South Carolina - Columbia is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. UofSC is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Columbia.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of South Carolina - Columbia get an earnings boost of about $4,247 above the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies majors.
It's hard to beat Coastal Carolina University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the small city of Conway, Coastal Carolina University is a public university with a large student population.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $27,221 for their early career.
It's hard to beat University of South Carolina - Upstate if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Spartanburg, USC Upstate is a public university with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies program at University of South Carolina - Upstate earn $7,243 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Lander University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Lander University is a small public university located in the town of Greenwood.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career earnings of $25,204.
Located in the distant town of Gaffney, Limestone College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies major at Limestone College earn $2,237 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
