ADBLOCK #102
College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia

8 Colleges in Virginia
1,918 Bachelor's Degrees
$40,567 Avg Early-Career Salary
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.

College Factual reviewed 8 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of liberal arts general studies. Combined, these schools handed out 1,918 bachelor's degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

ADBLOCK #159
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities//liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Initial offers_url = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json", major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: offers_url = https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json
DEBUG: major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: offers_url is valid, proceeding to fetch data
DEBUG: offers_data.offers found, count = 4
DEBUG: Specific major detected (cip4 = 24.01), keeping min_relevance at 0.8
DEBUG: Starting relevance filtering - min_relevance = 0.8, max_relevance = 1
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

Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia Your choice of liberal arts general studies for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for liberal arts general studies students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Liberal Arts Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia list to help you make the college decision.

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.

DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities//liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Initial offers_url = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json", major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: offers_url = https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json
DEBUG: major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: offers_url is valid, proceeding to fetch data
DEBUG: offers_data.offers found, count = 4
DEBUG: Specific major detected (cip4 = 24.01), keeping min_relevance at 0.8
DEBUG: Starting relevance filtering - min_relevance = 0.8, max_relevance = 1
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 Virginia

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies.

Top Virginia Schools for a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts

1
292 Annual Graduates
$41,398 Median Starting Salary
$33,869 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at George Mason University. Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program make about $41,398 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from George Mason University

2
JMU crest
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA
146 Annual Graduates
$49,408 Median Starting Salary
$39,206 Median Student Debt

James Madison University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from James Madison University receive an earnings boost of approximately $8,841 over the average earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from James Madison University

3
UMW crest
University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA
80 Annual Graduates
$37,677 Median Starting Salary
$39,865 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies needs to look into University of Mary Washington. Located in the suburb of Fredericksburg, UMW is a public university with a small student population.

After graduating, liberal arts bachelor's recipients generally make about $37,677 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from University of Mary Washington

4
Longwood crest
Longwood University
Farmville, VA
49 Annual Graduates
$46,714 Median Starting Salary
$37,618 Median Student Debt

It's hard to beat Longwood University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Longwood is a small public university located in the distant town of Farmville.

Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Longwood University make $6,147 above the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Longwood University

5
Bridgewater crest
Bridgewater College
Bridgewater, VA

Bridgewater is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Bridgewater.

Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Bridgewater College earn $6,253 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Bridgewater College

ADBLOCK #172
6

Located in the city of Harrisonburg, Eastern Mennonite is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Those liberal arts general studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Eastern Mennonite University make $6,018 more than the average liberal arts grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Eastern Mennonite University

7
14 Annual Graduates
$34,877 Median Starting Salary
$39,474 Median Student Debt

Virginia State is a moderately-sized public university located in the suburb of Petersburg.

After graduating, liberal arts bachelor's recipients typically make about $34,877 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Virginia State University

8

Located in the city of Staunton, Mary Baldwin is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn about $40,887 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Mary Baldwin University

DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities//liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Initial offers_url = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json", major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json"
DEBUG: offers_url = https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies/offers.json
DEBUG: major_slug = "liberal-arts-sciences-humanities/liberal-arts-and-general-studies"
DEBUG: offers_url is valid, proceeding to fetch data
DEBUG: offers_data.offers found, count = 4
DEBUG: Specific major detected (cip4 = 24.01), keeping min_relevance at 0.5
DEBUG: Starting relevance filtering - min_relevance = 0.5, max_relevance = 1
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 0
DEBUG: No relevant offers, showing generic ESYOH widget

Best Liberal Arts General Studies Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Florida 225 1,059
Georgia 224 619
Tennessee 220 654
North Carolina 213 838
South Carolina 195 463
Kentucky 187 916
Alabama 184 333
Louisiana 171 1,077
Mississippi 169 581
Arkansas 167 514
West Virginia 147 1,012
ADBLOCK #173

View All Rankings >

One of 0 majors within the Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities area of study, Liberal Arts General Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Liberal Arts Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Liberal Arts 1,641
Individualized Studies 170
General Studies 107
ADBLOCK #174

ADBLOCK #115

Notes and References

ADBLOCK #116

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs
ADBLOCK #613

Compare Your School Options