General Studies Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
General Studies maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 12,743 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median in-state published tuition is about $5,304.
Key Statistics
General Studies: what the data shows
Common questions about general studies degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a general studies degree?
A General Studies program is classified under NCES CIP 24.0102 in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities field family (24.01).
An undifferentiated program that includes instruction in the general arts, general science, or unstructured studies
IPEDS counted 12,743 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of general studies degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 24.01 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies (CIP 24.0103)
- Liberal Arts & Humanities (CIP 24.01)
- Liberal Arts & Sciences (CIP 24.0101)
- Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other (CIP 24.0199)
How long does it take to get a general studies degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 24.0102 in our file:
- 90,391 Associate (87.5% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 12,743 Bachelor's (12.3% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 214 Master's (0.2% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in general studies?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers, Postsecondary (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a general studies degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links General Studies to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | 1,500,000 | — |
| Secondary School Teachers | 1,072,540 | $64,580 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a general studies degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities bachelor's program family: median debt $21,625, median earnings $53,072 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.59.
About 7.5% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $5,304 and median net price is $10,824.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in General Studies and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$5,304 Median In-State Public
$12,870 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for General Studies majors are, on average, $5,304 for in-state public colleges, and $12,870 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for General Studies programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
12,743 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in General Studies from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in General Studies.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,099 |
| 2 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 54,926 |
| 3 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 44,617 |
| 4 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 39,637 |
| 5 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | 35,665 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering General Studies programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merced College | CA | $1,194 |
| 2 | Shasta College | CA | $1,197 |
| 3 | Modesto Junior College | CA | $1,270 |
| 4 | San Joaquin Delta College | CA | $1,288 |
| 5 | Reedley College | CA | $1,334 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for General Studies programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $29 |
| 2 | Fort Scott Community College | KS | $665 |
| 3 | South Georgia Technical College | GA | $1,026 |
| 4 | Reedley College | CA | $1,584 |
| 5 | Mississippi Delta Community College | MS | $2,276 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for General Studies programs.
Graduation Rates
52.92% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
52.83% Average Graduation Rate
1,520 Institutions Reporting
38.65% - 65.91% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for General Studies programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for General Studies is in TX (2,261 completions). That state represents about 17.7% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is NH (2.41% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| TX | 2,261 | 17.7% | 0.77% |
| NH | 1,524 | 12.0% | 2.41% |
| LA | 1,086 | 8.5% | 2.30% |
| KY | 827 | 6.5% | 1.60% |
| OK | 717 | 5.6% | 1.72% |
| WV | 699 | 5.5% | 1.95% |
| AR | 440 | 3.5% | 1.36% |
| NE | 402 | 3.1% | 1.33% |
| MO | 397 | 3.1% | 0.56% |
| NJ | 310 | 2.4% | 0.36% |
| CT | 307 | 2.4% | 0.63% |
| MS | 301 | 2.4% | 0.99% |
| OH | 296 | 2.3% | 0.21% |
| GA | 290 | 2.3% | 0.25% |
| UT | 285 | 2.2% | 0.26% |
| MI | 244 | 1.9% | 0.21% |
| NY | 233 | 1.8% | 0.09% |
| TN | 197 | 1.6% | 0.27% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 24.01 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies CIP 24.0103
- Liberal Arts & Humanities CIP 24.01
- Liberal Arts & Sciences CIP 24.0101
- Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other CIP 24.0199
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 24.0102 in the survey year used in our extract (103,348 total across levels below).
- 90,391 Associate (87.5% of IPEDS total)
- 12,743 Bachelor's (12.3% of IPEDS total)
- 214 Master's (0.2% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of General Studies graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | $36,511 | 1,500,000 |
| Secondary School Teachers | $104,813 | 1,072,540 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities CIP family (186 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every General Studies graduate.
- $21,625 median federal loan debt among completers
- $53,072 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.59 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 7.5% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for General Studies majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for General Studies majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of General Studies graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in General Studies by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in General Studies in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in General Studies.
Age distribution for General Studies degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
12,743 Total Degrees Awarded
5,181 Male (40.66%)
7,562 Female (59.34%)
Gender distribution of General Studies degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
7,007 White (54.99%)
2,475 Black or African American (19.42%)
1,600 Hispanic or Latino (12.56%)
578 Two or More Races (4.54%)
266 Asian (2.09%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of General Studies degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in General Studies are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in General Studies.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the General Studies field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
General Studies majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for General Studies majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for General Studies majors.
About
An undifferentiated program that includes instruction in the general arts, general science, or unstructured studies
In 2023, 12,743 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in General Studies.
CIP Code
24.0102 - General Studies
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $21,625 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $53,072, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.59. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual General Studies graduate.
Women earned 61.5% of 127,908 General Studies completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $5,304 in-state at public colleges and $12,870 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.