Liberal Arts major

Liberal Arts: courses, careers, and where to study

Liberal Arts is a structured breadth degree spanning the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities. It is the single most-awarded field in U.S. higher education.

A Liberal Arts (or Liberal Studies) major is defined federally as a structured combination of the arts, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities, built for breadth rather than depth in one subject. That structure is the point: the degree is designed to make a graduate literate across several ways of thinking rather than expert in one.

It is also, by volume, the most-awarded field in American higher education. More U.S. institutions confer credentials in Liberal Arts than in any other field CampusPin tracks, and a large share of them are community colleges, where the degree most often functions as a general-education core designed to transfer into a four-year program.

That dual role is the thing to understand before choosing it. As a transfer vehicle it is often the most efficient path into a bachelor's degree, and articulation agreements are usually written around it. As a terminal degree it does not point at a specific occupation, which is a genuine trade-off rather than a hidden flaw: graduates disperse across many fields, and what happens next depends heavily on internships, skills built alongside the coursework, and any further study. Ask any program you are considering which four-year institutions accept it, and under what terms.

Academic classification (CIP)

In the federal Classification of Instructional Programs, Liberal Arts maps to CIP 24.0101, Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies, within the LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES, GENERAL STUDIES AND HUMANITIES family. The official definition:

A program that is a structured combination of the arts, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities, emphasizing breadth of study. Includes instruction in independently designed, individualized, or regular programs.

Source: U.S. Department of Education (NCES), Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) 2020. View on nces.ed.gov

What credential Liberal Arts is awarded as

Of the 341,083 Liberal Arts credentials U.S. colleges reported conferring in 2023-24:

  • Certificate25%85,218
  • Associate69%233,844
  • Bachelor's6%20,991
  • Graduate<1%1,030

This mix is fairly consistent nationally: across the 48 states reporting it, the certificate share moves by about 41 percentage points between the 10th and 90th percentile state, so the credential is more a property of the field than of where you study it. See the full study.

Credentials conferred in 2023-24, U.S. Department of Education IPEDS completions. A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one, and this counts what was awarded rather than what a college currently offers.

What you'll study

  • Writing and argument across several disciplines, usually the most transferable skill in the degree
  • Introductory coursework in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities
  • Quantitative reasoning, typically through a mathematics or statistics requirement
  • Reading and interpreting primary sources rather than only textbooks
  • How different fields define evidence, which is what breadth is actually for
  • A general-education core that most four-year institutions accept on transfer

Typical careers

  • Transfer to a bachelor's program (the most common next step)
  • Administrative and operations roles across sectors
  • Sales, customer success and account management
  • Teaching, after a required licensure program
  • Further study in law, public policy, business or the humanities

Related occupations

Occupations the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk associates with Liberal Arts, with what each one pays and how many openings it is projected to average each year. Ordered by projected annual openings, largest first. Linked titles open the full CampusPin career page.

Occupations associated with Liberal Artsby the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, with median annual wage, projected annual openings, projected employment change, and the education most entrants typically hold.
OccupationMedian payOpenings / yrProjected changeMost entrants hold
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other$78,49013,500+1.8%Doctoral or professional degree

Crosswalk: U.S. Department of Education (NCES), CIP 2020 to SOC 2018. Pay, openings and projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024 wages, Employment Projections). 1 of these 1 occupations report a median wage.

“Most entrants hold” is what BLS observes about people already working in the occupation. It is not a legal requirement, not an admission rule, and not a guarantee of entry. Studying Liberal Arts does not guarantee any specific occupation, and many of these roles are entered from several different fields. Projected openings are a projection, not jobs promised.

The federal crosswalk associates only one occupation with Liberal Arts. That is a statement about the field, not about its graduates: a breadth degree is not tied to a particular job, so the crosswalk has little to map. Graduates of this field work across many occupations, and what follows the degree depends far more on the skills and experience built alongside it.

Before you commit to a Liberal Arts major

CampusPin does not rank programs. Use these prompts to pressure-test whether a specific Liberal Arts program fits your goals, they are decision questions, not claims about any school.

Ask the Liberal Arts department

  • Which concentrations or specializations are offered, and which faculty lead them?
  • What does the typical course sequence look like, and how much is required vs. elective?
  • What labs, studios, clinical placements, or research opportunities are available to undergraduates?
  • Is there a capstone, thesis, internship, or co-op requirement?

Ask current students & check the curriculum

  • How heavy is the workload, and how accessible is the faculty?
  • What internships or co-ops did you do, and where do recent graduates end up?
  • Does the required curriculum actually match the careers listed above?
  • How easy is it to add a minor, double major, or switch tracks later?
Accreditation & licensure: Liberal Arts programs are covered by their institution's regional accreditation rather than a field-specific accreditor. What matters far more for this degree is transfer: confirm in writing which four-year institutions accept the program, how many credits carry over, and whether it satisfies their general-education requirements before you enroll.
Degree level & graduate study: Many Liberal Artscareers are open with a bachelor's degree, but some, such as research, advanced-practice, or licensure-track roles, require a master's or doctorate. Check the typical entry-level education on each linked career page above before assuming a bachelor's is enough.

Find a Liberal Arts program

CampusPin lists U.S. universities and community colleges by state, tuition, school size, acceptance rate, and campus setting, no account required.

Colleges that awarded the most Liberal Arts credentials

Largest by credentials conferred in 2023-24. This measures the size of the graduating class, not quality, and it is not a ranking.

Based on credentials this institution reported conferring in the federal IPEDS completions collection for 2023-24. It confirms the field was awarded that year, not that the program currently accepts students, and it covers only the fields CampusPin tracks. Confirm current offerings with the institution.

Search Liberal Arts schools

Where Liberal Arts credentials were awarded

42 states have a distinct enough set of Liberal Arts colleges to be worth its own page.

Search Liberal Arts schools by state

Related majors

Put this major in context

The salary above is an occupation-wide median from federal data, not a starting wage or a guarantee. These CampusPin guides and reports help you read it well, see where a Liberal Arts degree can lead, and weigh it against cost and program quality.

Explore Education & Library careers

Median pay, job outlook, and the occupations this field covers.

How one major leads to many careers

Why a single Liberal Arts degree can open more than one path, and how to read the occupations above.

Why a median wage is not a starting salary

How to read a BLS median, and why early-career pay usually sits below it.

When accreditation and licensure matter

How program accreditation and state licensure can shape a Liberal Arts path before you enroll.

Does a pricier college pay off?

How college cost lines up with graduation and earnings, an association, not a ranking.

Does picking a major narrow your college list?

Across the federal completions data, most fields barely change which colleges are on the table. Which ones genuinely do.

Certificate or degree?

What credential a field is usually awarded as is mostly set by the field itself, not by the state, with a short list of exceptions.

How this guide is sourced

This is an editorial guide from the CampusPin Editorial Team. Career and wage figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupation-wide medians across all experience levels, not starting wages, and link to each career page. Program availability comes from CampusPin's free institution search; CampusPin does not assert that any specific school offers this exact major until that program data is verified. Last reviewed 2026-06-15. How CampusPin sources data · Report a correction.