2024 Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Plains States Region
87Colleges in the Plains States Region
26,538Liberal Studies Degrees Awarded
If you pursue a degree in liberal arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #2 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 87 schools in the Plains States Region to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 26,538 degrees in liberal arts during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of liberal arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for liberal arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Plains States Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Liberal Arts in the Plains States Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the liberal studies degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
14 Top Plains States Region Schools in Liberal Studies
University of Kansas is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts. Located in the small city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #141 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means KU is a great university overall.
There were about 115 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at KU in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Iowa is a good choice for students pursuing a degree in liberal arts. Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #84 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Iowa is a great university overall.
There were approximately 218 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent data year.
Every student who is interested in liberal arts has to check out Normandale Community College. Located in the small city of Bloomington, Normandale Community College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #343 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Normandale Community College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 713 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Normandale Community College in the most recent data year.
Columbia College is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in liberal arts. Located in the city of Columbia, Columbia College Missouri is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 16th out of 48 schools for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were about 65 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia College Missouri in the most recent year we have data available.
UNI is a medium-sized public university located in the city of Cedar Falls. A Best Colleges rank of #199 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.
There were approximately 68 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent year we have data available.
DMACC is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Ankeny. A Best Colleges rank of #501 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means DMACC is a great college overall.
There were approximately 1045 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at DMACC in the most recent data year.
Located in the town of Hays, FHSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #588 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means FHSU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 356 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at FHSU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Kansas City, UMKC is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #480 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UMKC is a great university overall.
There were about 137 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UMKC in the most recent data year.
MCC is a large public college located in the large city of Kansas City. This college ranks 17th out of 48 schools for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were approximately 2357 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at MCC in the most recent data year.
William Jewell is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Liberty. This college ranks 22nd out of 48 colleges for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were about 18 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at William Jewell in the most recent year we have data available.
JCCC is a fairly large public college located in the city of Overland Park. A Best Colleges rank of #607 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means JCCC is a great college overall.
There were roughly 1257 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at JCCC in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Omaha, MCC is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #608 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means MCC is a great college overall.
There were roughly 353 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at MCC in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the town of Indianola, Simpson College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #549 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Simpson College is a great college overall.
There were about 14 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Simpson College in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of Coon Rapids, Anoka-Ramsey Community College-Coon Rapids Campus is a public college with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #652 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Anoka-Ramsey Community College-Coon Rapids Campus is a great college overall.
There were approximately 650 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Anoka-Ramsey Community College-Coon Rapids Campus in the most recent year we have data available.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Plains States Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
college factual
Your choice of liberal arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for liberal arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
