Humanities · California

California colleges that awarded Humanities credentials

104 colleges in California reported conferring Humanities credentials to the federal IPEDS collection in 2024-25, and every one of them also awarded in the year before. 103 awarded a degree, and 1 awarded only a certificate. That is a record of credentials already awarded, not confirmation that a program is currently admitting.

Colleges and what they awarded

Largest first by credentials conferred in 2024-25. That order measures the size of the graduating class and nothing else: it is not a ranking, and the largest entry is often a certificate provider rather than the strongest degree program. The credential is labelled on every row for exactly that reason.

Colleges in California that conferred Humanities credentials in 2024-25, with the number awarded and whether any was a degree.
CollegeCredentials awardedHighest level
Santa Monica College1,292Degree
San Joaquin Delta College1,230Degree
Pasadena City College744Degree
Norco College724Degree
Moreno Valley College681Degree
Santa Ana College644Degree
Riverside City College599Degree
Santiago Canyon College364Degree
Los Angeles Harbor College356Degree
Santa Barbara City College355Degree
Los Angeles Pierce College307Degree
El Camino Community College District304Degree
Ventura College280Degree
Golden West College279Degree
Mt San Jacinto Community College District279Degree
Los Angeles City College264Degree
Shasta College253Degree
Lassen Community College249Degree
Cuesta College209Degree
Compton College208Degree
East Los Angeles College195Degree
Moorpark College193Degree
Cosumnes River College163Degree
West Los Angeles College157Degree
Palo Verde College156Degree
Los Medanos College155Degree
Oxnard College153Degree
Santa Rosa Junior College150Degree
Grossmont College149Degree
College of the Desert145Degree
Folsom Lake College141Degree
College of the Redwoods135Degree
Cerro Coso Community College134Degree
Imperial Valley College121Degree
Saddleback College117Degree
Palomar College115Degree
Coastline Community College112Degree
Porterville College107Degree
Berkeley City College101Degree
Victor Valley College101Degree
Rio Hondo College95Degree
California State University-Monterey Bay92Degree
Mission College86Degree
San Diego City College86Degree
MiraCosta College82Degree
Azusa Pacific University81Degree
Columbia College79Degree
De Anza College68Degree
Chaffey College67Degree
San Jose City College66Degree
Southwestern College60Degree
Cypress College59Degree
College of the Canyons54Degree
Contra Costa College54Degree
Taft College54Degree
Sierra College51Degree
Sacramento City College49Degree
Irvine Valley College47Degree
Skyline College44Degree
Yuba College38Degree

Showing the 60 largest of 104.

How much of this field is in California

Credentials awarded
14,265
Share of U.S. total
77%
Colleges awarding it
104
Awarding a degree
103

California colleges conferred 14,265 Humanities credentials in 2024-25, which is 77% of the 18,634 conferred across the 41 U.S. jurisdictions reporting any. Of the 104 colleges here, 103 awarded a degree and 1 awarded only a certificate. These counts measure the size of graduating classes, not program quality, and not how many students are currently enrolled.

What level those credentials were

  • Certificates: <1%, 1 credentials.
  • Associate: 98%, 13,927 credentials.
  • Bachelor's: 2%, 248 credentials.
  • Graduate: <1%, 89 credentials.

Most Humanities credentials awarded in California were associate degrees. The mix here is close to the national pattern for this field. A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one, and the level a program awards is set by the program rather than by the student.

We measured how much this varies nationwide, and for most fields the credential level is set by the field rather than the state: is your major a certificate or a degree?

How concentrated it is. The single college with the largest reported graduating class in this field accounted for 9% of California’s Humanities credentials. Activity is spread across several institutions rather than sitting with one.

What these California colleges cost

Median net price across the 70 of these 104 colleges that report it, by family income. Net price is what students receiving federal aid actually paid for the WHOLE college after grants and scholarships, so it is not the price of a Humanities program specifically, and not a quote for any family.

0-30k
$5,155
30-48k
$5,615
48-75k
$8,453
75-110k
$11,441
110k+
$11,059

By the kind of college

The figure above averages very different institutions together. Split by federal sector, for a family earning under $30,000:

Median net price for a family earning under $30,000, by kind of college, among California colleges that reported awarding Humanities credentials.
Kind of collegeCollegesMedian net price
Public two-year46$3,961
Public four-year17$6,428
Private7$24,276

Sector is the federal classification (IPEDS ICLEVEL and CONTROL). Private covers both nonprofit and for-profit colleges, which CampusPin does not split here because the for-profit sample in a single state is usually too small to publish a median. Each row needs at least five colleges reporting net price, so a sector with fewer is left out rather than estimated.

A family earning under $30,000 paid a median of $5,155 at these colleges, against $11,059 for a family earning over $110,000. Individual colleges vary widely around these medians. See every California college by income band.

What this evidence does and does not prove

This lists colleges that reported conferring credentials in this field to the federal IPEDS completions collection, in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. It does not confirm that any of them is currently admitting students to the program, and a college can appear here after deciding to close it. Confirm with the institution before it affects where you apply.

How this list was built

From the U.S. Department of Education IPEDS completions collection, matched to each college on its exact federal program classification. A college appears only if it conferred credentials in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, which is what separates a running program from one that has already closed.

This page exists because its list of colleges is materially different from that of every closely related field in California — the fields a reader could otherwise mistake it for, such as two engineering disciplines, or nursing and practical nursing. Where a related field resolves to the same colleges, the second page would be the first one with its title changed, and CampusPin does not publish it. Sharing colleges with an unrelated field is different, and not a reason to withhold the page: in most states the same colleges award business, psychology and biology alike, which says something about the colleges rather than about the fields. We measured exactly how often that happens, and published the result: does choosing a major narrow your college list?

What Humanities graduates go on to do

Occupations the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk associates with Humanities, ordered by projected annual openings. National figures: openings and pay do not vary by where you studied, and the crosswalk describes related fields rather than a required or guaranteed path.

Occupations associated with Humanities, with median annual wage, projected annual openings, and the education most entrants hold.
OccupationMedian payOpenings / yrMost entrants hold
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other$78,49013,500Doctoral or professional degree

Crosswalk: U.S. Department of Education (NCES), CIP 2020 to SOC 2018. Pay and projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024 wages, Employment Projections). “Most entrants hold” is what BLS observes about people already in the occupation, not a legal requirement, an admission rule, or a guarantee of entry. Projected openings are a projection, not jobs promised.

Questions about Humanities in California

How many colleges in California awarded Humanities credentials?
104 colleges in California reported conferring Humanities credentials to the federal IPEDS completions collection in 2024-25, 103 of them a degree rather than only a certificate. Together they awarded 13,733 credentials in the fields covered.
Does this mean these colleges currently offer Humanities?
Not necessarily. Completions record credentials already awarded, so they confirm a program ran and graduated students. They do not confirm it is still admitting. Every college here also awarded in the prior year, which makes a closed program less likely, but confirm directly with the institution before it affects where you apply.
Is a college missing from this list?
Possibly. A new program with no graduates yet does not appear, and CampusPin matches the federal classification exactly rather than guessing, so a college filing under a neighbouring code is absent. Absence is never evidence a program does not exist.

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