General Studies Bachelor's Degrees in Utah

Best General Studies Bachelor's Degrees in Utah, Ranked (2026)

The 3 general studies bachelor's degrees in Utah that meet the ranking threshold, scored on graduation rate, resident tuition and fees, and degrees awarded, the same figures as the national bachelor's degree ranking.

The Salt Lake City, Utah skyline
Top Score in Utah 87.1 Southern Utah University
Salt Lake City skyline. Photo by 888emmanuelc888, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: IPEDS, as of September 29, 2026. Cost is resident tuition plus required fees, 2023-24.

Bachelor's Degrees in Utah

3

Meet the Ranking Threshold

3

Median Resident Tuition and Fees

$6,770

With a Fully Online Option

2

General Studies Bachelor's Degrees in Utah

General studies bachelor's degrees in Utah are three programs at three public universities, all ranked, and one of them is the top-ranked general studies bachelor's in the country. Southern Utah University's Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Cedar City scores 87.1, first in the national bachelor's ranking, on 150 degrees a year, a 61% graduation rate, $6,770 in resident tuition and required fees for 2023-24 and a fully online option. It scores that well because it's cheap, large and finishes most of its students at once, which few programs at this level manage.

Utah State University's Integrated Studies degree in Logan, offered as a B.S. or B.A., scores 73.4 and ranks 14th nationally, graduating 59% on 47 degrees a year at $8,305, also online. Utah Valley University in Orem scores 64.4 and ranks 37th, awarding 88 degrees a year with a 45% graduation rate at $6,270, the lowest price of the three, as a campus program. So the spread is $6,270 to $8,305 in tuition and fees and 45% to 61% in graduation rate, with nonresidents paying $17,830 at Utah Valley, $20,586 at Southern Utah and $24,223 at Utah State.

The 3 Best General Studies Bachelor's Degrees in Utah

The best general studies bachelor's degrees in Utah are ranked below by their national score, from the national bachelor's degree ranking. The number on each card is the program's place in Utah. Each needed at least 10 graduates in the latest year to be ranked.

  1. 1

    Southern Utah University

    Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS)

    Utah

    • Public
    • Fully Online Option
    College graduation rate
    61%
    In-state tuition and fees
    $6,770 a year
    Degrees awarded, latest year
    150
    • College graduation rate percentile 81 / 100
    • In-state tuition and fees percentile 94 / 100
    • Degrees awarded, latest year percentile 89 / 100

    About the Program

    You pick two or three disciplines and build a personalized program of study with an advisor, but the catalog decides the shape through three tracks. Track One splits the work evenly, with at least 21 credits in each discipline. Track Two leans on a 30-credit primary discipline and adds a 12-credit second discipline that is entirely upper-division, so it suits you if one field is clearly the main one.

    Twelve credits of foundation core hold the degree together, running from an introduction through a research methods course and a capstone. Course substitution is not allowed in those courses, so nothing else you've taken stands in for the introduction, the research methods course or the capstone. Separately, 20 of your 40 upper-division credits are earned from SUU.

    Approval has a deadline. Your curriculum design has to be signed off by the BIS Coordinator or the INDS Department Chair before you've earned 75 total credits, and you can't change your disciplines within your last 30 earned credits. So if you're arriving with a lot of credit already, settle your disciplines early, because the window to propose them and the window to revise them both close.

    Grades count course by course, because every course in a BIS discipline has to be passed with a C- (1.7) or better. Two limits are worth knowing before you commit. The degree can't be used for state certification as a teacher, and it's a stand-alone program, so you can't pair it with another bachelor's program as a double major.

  2. 2

    Utah State University

    Integrated Studies, BS/BA

    Utah

    • Public
    • Fully Online Option
    College graduation rate
    59%
    In-state tuition and fees
    $8,305 a year
    Degrees awarded, latest year
    47
    • College graduation rate percentile 75 / 100
    • In-state tuition and fees percentile 82 / 100
    • Degrees awarded, latest year percentile 59 / 100

    About the Program

    Career Focus Areas take the place of a fixed major in Integrated Studies, BS/BA. You follow one of six, among them Humanities and Arts, Business and Communication, and Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the area gives you a guided pathway in which you define outcomes and career options to create your major requirements. But if you study online, the choice narrows to one of two career focus areas, Business Communication or Social Science and Human Services.

    Planning for work is taught inside the degree, because you take two courses taught by career specialists from the Career Design Center, and their purpose is to help you with career exploration and design. Internships come up as well, since the college says many Integrated Studies students participate in the Advanced Internship Course.

    Declaring the major takes 12 USU credits, 60 earned credits and a 2.0 GPA, so you declare the Integrated Studies major partway through college. That fits who the degree is aimed at, which is students with existing college credit from Utah State or another accredited institution. If your credits come from somewhere else, you still need the 12 USU credits before you can declare.

    Advisors build the plan with you, and it's an individualized semester-by-semester plan. That matters because your major requirements are ones you help create, so the plan is what tells you which courses are left. The degree is available at the Logan campus, at statewide campuses and through USU Online, and the online program has its own academic advisor.

  3. 3

    Utah Valley University

    Utah

    • Public
    College graduation rate
    45%
    In-state tuition and fees
    $6,270 a year
    Degrees awarded, latest year
    88
    • College graduation rate percentile 37 / 100
    • In-state tuition and fees percentile 96 / 100
    • Degrees awarded, latest year percentile 75 / 100

    About the Program

    Orem, Utah is home to Utah Valley University, a public university of 46,807 students. Some 88 bachelor's degrees were conferred in the last year on record, a bigger output than 75% of the programs ranked alongside it. A 45% graduation rate puts the college at the 37th percentile, though that figure counts every student who started there and not this degree alone. Tuition and fees run $6,270 a year in state against $17,830 out of state, so on price it sits at the 96th percentile. Strongest of its measures is price, which lands at the 96th percentile.

How Much Does a General Studies Bachelor's Degree Cost in Utah?

A general studies bachelor's degree in Utah costs $6,770 a year in resident tuition and required fees at the median of the three programs for 2023-24, which is Southern Utah University's price, between Utah Valley University at $6,270 and Utah State University at $8,305. All three are public, so the resident rate is the one to plan around, and nonresidents pay $17,830, $20,586 and $24,223 respectively. Those are the same prices each university charges for its general studies associate, because the associate and bachelor's sit inside one institution.

The Utah Promise Program is the state grant to ask about while finishing. State code defines an eligible student as financially needy, unconditionally admitted to and enrolled at a Utah postsecondary institution on at least a half-time basis, and the grant is last-dollar, capped at the difference between cost of attendance and the total value of other financial aid. The limit that matters at this level is the end point: eligibility lasts until the student earns a first bachelor's degree or completes 120 credit hours. If you're transferring in with an associate behind you, those credits sit inside the same 120, so plan the remaining semesters against that cap.

Resident tuition and fees for general studies bachelor's degrees in Utah, lowest first
College Tuition and fees Graduation rate
Utah Valley University $6,270 45%
Southern Utah University $6,770 61%
Utah State University $8,305 59%
Source: IPEDS published tuition and required fees, 2023-24. As of September 29, 2026.

How Does Credit Transfer Into a General Studies Bachelor's Degree in Utah?

Credit transfers into a general studies bachelor's degree in Utah with general education already settled when you arrive with an A.A. or A.S. from a public college, because all three bachelor's programs are at Utah System of Higher Education universities and Board Policy R471 says such a degree will meet the gen ed requirements of all USHE institutions. Arrive without the degree and a certificate or letter from your college signifying that you've met the gen ed requirements does the same work, since R470 requires each general education program to be fully transferable across the system and marked with a certificate to ensure transferability of the entire program.

What's left to evaluate is the major. Southern Utah's Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Utah State's Integrated Studies are built to be assembled from more than one field, so ask each how many of your lower-division credits count toward the degree's own requirements and how many land as electives. CCN designated courses transfer as equivalent credit, which settles the course-by-course question for anything carrying a Utah common course number. If your associate is from Ensign College, which is private and outside USHE, none of this is automatic and you'll need a written evaluation from the university.

What Do Jobs With a General Studies Bachelor's Degree Pay in Utah?

Jobs open to a general studies bachelor's degree in Utah pay the state medians below, from the May 2025 federal wage survey, with the national median beside each for comparison. Each row links to the salary guide for that job.

Median annual pay in Utah for jobs open to a general studies degree
Job Utah median U.S. median
Administrative Services Manager $123,700 $114,130
Management Analyst $83,530 $101,860
Social and Community Service Manager $83,200 $80,390
Human Resources Specialist $71,750 $75,940
Paralegal $63,220 $62,890
Public Relations Specialist $62,670 $74,750
Market Research Analyst $62,630 $78,760
Fundraiser $61,820 $72,550
Training and Development Specialist $60,900 $69,280
Meeting and Event Planner $54,150 $61,160
Social and Human Service Assistant $39,930 $45,930
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, state estimates.

How to Choose a General Studies Bachelor's Degree Program in Utah

How to choose a general studies bachelor's degree program in Utah is a choice among three public universities that charge between $6,270 and $8,305 and finish between 45% and 61% of their students, so the deciding factors are format and completion. Southern Utah and Utah State can be finished fully online and graduate 61% and 59%. Utah Valley is a campus program in Orem that graduates 45% but costs the least at $6,270. Southern Utah awards 150 general studies bachelor's degrees a year to Utah Valley's 88 and Utah State's 47, so it's also the program with the most graduates to ask about.

If you're coming from a general studies associate, staying inside the same university is the simplest route, and Southern Utah, Utah State and Utah Valley all award the associate as well as the bachelor's. Ask each university whether the interdisciplinary or integrated studies degree requires you to declare emphasis areas and how many credits each emphasis needs, since that's where transfer credit gets lost. And ask how the online sections are scheduled, because a program that graduates 150 students a year online may run very differently from a 47-student one.

If you're starting with an associate degree, the general studies associate degrees in Utah have their own page.

Common Questions About General Studies Bachelor's Degrees in Utah

Which Utah General Studies Bachelor's Degree Has the Lowest Resident Tuition?

Which of Utah's General Studies Bachelor's Degrees Are Taught Online?

Does an Associate Degree From Snow or Salt Lake Cover General Education at Southern Utah or Utah State?

Why Does Southern Utah's Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Rank First Nationally?

Can You Use a Utah Promise Grant to Finish a General Studies Bachelor's Degree?

Where Do the Figures on This Utah Page Come From?