General Studies vs. Liberal Arts: What's the Difference?

What Is the Difference Between a General Studies Degree and a Liberal Arts Degree?

The difference between a general studies degree and a liberal arts degree is structure. A liberal arts degree is a planned spread across the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities. A general studies degree is the open one, where you and an advisor decide what goes in, and some versions skip a fixed structure altogether.

Both degrees sit in the same family of the federal catalog. The Department of Education's program classification groups them under one series described as "general instructional programs and independent or individualized studies in the liberal arts subjects, the humanities disciplines and the general curriculum." So on paper they're cousins. In practice the split shows up in three places: how much of the degree is pinned down, whether the degree is built to transfer, and whether a state has written a rule about it. You'll find both degrees at the associate and bachelor's level, and some colleges run one of each with different purposes.

How Does the Federal Government Define General Studies and Liberal Arts Degrees?

The federal government defines a liberal arts degree as a structured combination of subjects and a general studies degree as an undifferentiated one, and that single word, structured, carries most of the difference. The National Center for Education Statistics assigns every college program a Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code. Both degrees sit in the 24.01 group, titled Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, which NCES defines only by pointing to its six-digit codes.

Under 24.0101, Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies, NCES describes "a program that is a structured combination of the arts, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities, emphasizing breadth of study." Under 24.0102, General Studies, it describes "an undifferentiated program that includes instruction in the general arts, general science, or unstructured studies." Liberal arts names four subject areas and says they're combined on purpose. General studies names general arts or general science and leaves the door open to no structure at all.

Those codes also tell you how common each degree is. Colleges report each program under one code, and the counts in this site's catalog, drawn from IPEDS, show liberal arts and sciences as the larger family at every level. It has 980 associate and 487 bachelor's programs against 589 and 291 for general studies, so for every three general studies programs there are about five liberal arts programs at both levels. Humanities and the catch-all "other" code are smaller still.

Source: IPEDS via the site's catalog, as of September 29, 2026.

What Does a Liberal Arts Degree Require in Practice?

A liberal arts degree in practice requires you to spread your coursework across the humanities, arts, natural sciences, math and social sciences, and in at least one state the share that has to be liberal arts is written into regulation. The American Association of Colleges and Universities describes liberal education as an approach that pairs broad knowledge of science, culture and society with in-depth study in one area, and says that today it "usually includes a general education curriculum that provides broad learning in multiple disciplines and ways of knowing, along with more in-depth study in a major." That's a description of an approach rather than one degree title. A Liberal Arts B.A. is the version where the breadth itself is the major.

New York writes the share into law. State regulation requires that three quarters of the work for an Associate in Arts or a Bachelor of Arts be in the liberal arts and sciences, and it says the required liberal arts core "shall not be directed toward specific occupational or professional objectives." So in New York an A.A. is a liberal arts degree by definition.

College catalogs match that picture. Keene State College's Liberal Arts B.A. "emphasizes a broad background in areas of the humanities, arts, natural sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and multidisciplinary fields." SUNY Niagara's Liberal Arts and Sciences A.A. in humanities and social science is pitched at students who plan to transfer into a bachelor's in fields like English, history or psychology. And Northern Virginia Community College's Liberal Arts A.A. "offers a foundation in the arts and sciences and prepares students for transfer into a Bachelor of Arts program."

What Does a General Studies Degree Look Like in Practice?

A general studies degree in practice looks like whatever you and your advisor build from the college's course list, and the catalogs say so in almost those words. Northern Virginia Community College calls its General Studies A.S. "a flexible associate degree for students who plan to transfer to a 4-year university, but are not yet sure of their intended major." Louisiana Delta Community College says its Associate of General Studies is "designed to allow students greater flexibility to develop a degree program tailored to their individual needs," whether you plan to start work or continue to a bachelor's.

Not every general studies degree is meant to move you to a four-year school. Tacoma Community College's Associate in General Studies is an exploration degree, and the catalog is blunt about it:"This degree is not intended for transfer and is not part of Washington's Inter-College Transfer and Articulation Agreement." If you're picking a general studies associate degree because you plan to transfer, look for that line in your own college's catalog before you enroll.

At the bachelor's level, general studies turns into a design-your-own degree.The University of Michigan pitches its Bachelor in General Studies to "students seeking a vigorously student-centered curriculum" and calls it "a highly interdisciplinary degree that allows students to combine and explore multiple subjects." Indiana University's online Bachelor of General Studies covers arts and humanities, science and math, and social sciences, and you complete electives with an advisor that "allow you to tailor your general studies degree to your individual needs." That's the appeal if you know what you want from the degree, and the risk if you don't.

What Happens When One College Offers Both General Studies and Liberal Arts?

When one college offers both a general studies degree and a liberal arts degree, the catalog gives each a different job, and the gap between those jobs is the whole comparison. Northern Virginia Community College is the cleanest example. Its Liberal Arts A.A. prepares you "for transfer into a Bachelor of Arts program." Its General Studies A.S. is for students who plan to transfer "but are not yet sure of their intended major." Same college, same transfer goal, and the difference is whether you've picked a direction.

NOVA's general studies page then adds a warning the liberal arts page doesn't carry: "Some Virginia colleges and universities exclude General Studies graduates from participating in guaranteed admission programs." The flexibility that makes general studies easy to enter can cost you a guaranteed seat at the four-year school you were aiming for. If a guaranteed admission agreement is part of your plan, confirm that general studies qualifies before you choose it.

Louisiana Delta Community College shows the same pattern from a different angle. Its Associate of General Studies is the flexible degree built around your individual needs. Its Associate of Arts Louisiana Transfer is the fixed one, and the college says that students who enter a four-year public university with it "will have met the institution's general education requirements and will be granted upper division (junior) status." What these two colleges tell you is that the structured degree is the one that comes with promises attached. The flexible degree asks you to make your own.

Which Transfers Better, a General Studies or a Liberal Arts Associate Degree?

A liberal arts associate degree transfers more predictably than a general studies associate degree in states with written statewide transfer rules, because those rules attach to the Associate in Arts. Washington's Direct Transfer Agreement is the model. The state board says "the DTA is sometimes called an Associate in Arts or an Associate in Arts and Sciences," and the DTA guidelines say the degree "will generally provide the transferring student with at least 90 quarter or 60 semester credits upon entry to a baccalaureate institution." Tacoma's general studies associate sits outside that agreement.

Florida writes the guarantee into statute. State law says "every associate in arts graduate of a Florida College System institution shall have met all general education requirements and must be granted admission to the upper division" of a state university, with exceptions for some programs. The degree named in the law is the associate in arts. So if you're in Florida and transfer is the goal, the A.A. is the degree the statute protects.

None of this means a general studies degree can't transfer. NOVA's version is built to, and Louisiana Delta says its graduates can continue to a bachelor's. It means the promise is weaker and more local. A liberal arts A.A. in a state with an articulation law gives you a rule you can point to. A general studies degree gives you a catalog page you have to read. The general studies degrees by state pages list the programs in each state so you can start with the ones near you.

What Do Employers and Graduate Schools Say About General Studies and Liberal Arts Degrees?

What employers say about general studies and liberal arts degrees comes from surveys that ask about skills and breadth of knowledge rather than degree titles, so the findings apply to both degrees about equally. AAC&U's 2023 employer survey found that employers "overwhelmingly favor job candidates who can show the acquisition of broad knowledge gained through application to real-world problems and integration across disciplines more than disciplinary-specific knowledge either in STEM fields or the liberal arts." In the same survey, eight in ten employers endorsed "knowledge gained through study of the liberal arts (arts, humanities, and social sciences)" as important. Either degree can deliver that if you build it that way.

NACE's Job Outlook 2025 survey points the same direction. Nearly 90% of employers said they look for evidence of a student's ability to solve problems on a resume. Nothing in that finding depends on whether your transcript says general studies or liberal arts. It depends on whether you can show the problem you solved. The careers with a general studies degree page covers where that evidence comes from.

Law school is the clearest example of a graduate path that doesn't filter on the degree title. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that "most law schools do not require a specific bachelor's degree for entry," and lists history and social science among the common undergraduate fields. For management analysts, BLS says "many fields of study provide a suitable educational background." Either degree gets you to the application. What happens after that depends on what you did with the breadth.

How to Choose Between a General Studies Degree and a Liberal Arts Degree

Choose a liberal arts degree when you want a structured breadth degree with transfer rules behind it, and choose a general studies degree when you need the flexibility more than you need the guarantee.

Pick liberal arts if you're at a community college and plan to transfer into a Bachelor of Arts, especially in a state like Florida or Washington where the Associate in Arts carries a statewide guarantee. Pick it if you want your coursework spread across named subject areas by design, the way Keene State and SUNY Niagara lay it out. And pick it if you're in New York, where the regulation already decides that three quarters of an A.A. is liberal arts.

Pick general studies if you haven't chosen a major and want to keep moving, which is who NOVA built its version for. Pick it if you want a degree built around your own needs, which is how Louisiana Delta describes its version, or an interdisciplinary bachelor's you design yourself, which is what Michigan and Indiana offer. Before you commit, do two things. Read your college's own catalog page for the phrase "not intended for transfer," because Tacoma's has it and others might. And if a guaranteed admission agreement is part of your plan, ask whether general studies graduates are included, because NOVA says some Virginia universities leave them out.

Whichever you choose, compare programs on cost, completion and outcomes rather than on the title. The best general studies associate degrees and best general studies bachelor's degrees lists do that, and the methodology page explains how we rank.