Liberal Arts · North Carolina

North Carolina colleges that awarded Liberal Arts credentials

77 colleges in North Carolina reported conferring Liberal Arts credentials to the federal IPEDS collection in 2024-25, and every one of them also awarded in the year before. 77 awarded a degree. 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 North Carolina that conferred Liberal Arts credentials in 2024-25, with the number awarded and whether any was a degree.
CollegeCredentials awardedHighest level
Central Piedmont Community College1,869Degree
Wake Technical Community College1,633Degree
Cape Fear Community College1,096Degree
Guilford Technical Community College654Degree
Forsyth Technical Community College554Degree
Catawba Valley Community College456Degree
Coastal Carolina Community College437Degree
Gaston College410Degree
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College388Degree
Pitt Community College365Degree
Fayetteville Technical Community College319Degree
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute315Degree
Sandhills Community College314Degree
Central Carolina Community College313Degree
Alamance Community College307Degree
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College305Degree
Johnston Community College302Degree
Mitchell Community College299Degree
Davidson-Davie Community College282Degree
Cleveland Community College278Degree
Durham Technical Community College278Degree
Vance-Granville Community College274Degree
Brunswick Community College262Degree
South Piedmont Community College256Degree
Craven Community College248Degree
Wayne Community College244Degree
Richmond Community College243Degree
College of the Albemarle222Degree
Surry Community College216Degree
East Carolina University212Degree
Beaufort County Community College202Degree
Wilkes Community College192Degree
North Carolina A & T State University176Degree
Stanly Community College160Degree
Randolph Community College158Degree
Lenoir Community College154Degree
James Sprunt Community College149Degree
Rockingham Community College147Degree
Tri-County Community College145Degree
Nash Community College141Degree
Piedmont Community College139Degree
Sampson Community College132Degree
Halifax Community College129Degree
Wilson Community College126Degree
Western Piedmont Community College122Degree
McDowell Technical Community College106Degree
Bladen Community College105Degree
Carteret Community College95Degree
Isothermal Community College95Degree
Martin Community College80Degree
Haywood Community College74Degree
Robeson Community College71Degree
Montgomery Community College66Degree
Fayetteville State University60Degree
Appalachian State University56Degree
University of Mount Olive48Degree
Mayland Community College46Degree
Roanoke-Chowan Community College46Degree
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill29Degree
Belmont Abbey College27Degree

Showing the 60 largest of 77.

How much of this field is in North Carolina

Credentials awarded
16,810
Share of U.S. total
4.9%
Colleges awarding it
77
Awarding a degree
77

North Carolina colleges conferred 16,810 Liberal Arts credentials in 2024-25, which is 4.9% of the 345,298 conferred across the 51 U.S. jurisdictions reporting any. Of the 77 colleges here, every one awarded a degree. These counts measure the size of graduating classes, not program quality, and not how many students are currently enrolled.

What level those credentials were

  • Associate: 96%, 16,091 credentials.
  • Bachelor's: 4%, 689 credentials.
  • Graduate: <1%, 30 credentials.

Most Liberal Arts credentials awarded in North Carolina were associate degrees. That is 26 percentage points more weighted toward associate degrees than the field nationally, where they are 69% of credentials. 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 11% of North Carolina’s Liberal Arts credentials. Activity is spread across several institutions rather than sitting with one.

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 North Carolina — 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 Liberal Arts graduates go on to do

Occupations the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk associates with Liberal Arts, 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 Liberal Arts, 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 Liberal Arts in North Carolina

How many colleges in North Carolina awarded Liberal Arts credentials?
77 colleges in North Carolina reported conferring Liberal Arts credentials to the federal IPEDS completions collection in 2024-25, 77 of them a degree rather than only a certificate. Together they awarded 16,627 credentials in the fields covered.
Does this mean these colleges currently offer Liberal Arts?
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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