Top 30 Best Bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Studies

For those who think out­side the box, an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree is worth con­sid­er­ing. Why take one dis­ci­pline and nar­row your focus when you can devel­op and study mul­ti­ple areas? This broad, inte­gra­tive approach favors stu­dents who are moti­vat­ed and cre­ative, and who have unusu­al career goals. An inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach to your edu­ca­tion means you can cre­ate a spe­cial­iza­tion just for you.

In recent years pro­grams that can be indi­vid­u­al­ized are grow­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty. The influ­ence of tech­nol­o­gy on soci­ety is cre­at­ing glob­al­ly-mind­ed indi­vid­u­als with the world at their fin­ger­tips. For this out­side-the-box stu­dent, a spe­cial­ized degree does­n’t work. Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­grams fos­ter cre­ativ­i­ty, imag­i­na­tive solu­tions, prob­lem-solv­ing, and inte­grat­ed approaches—and the fact is these lib­er­al traits are some­times over­looked in spe­cial­ized learn­ing. It’s a sit­u­a­tion where we can’t see the for­est through the trees.

Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degrees come in many forms. They can be called Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies, Indi­vid­u­al­ized Degrees, or Inte­grat­ed Degrees, but they all amount to the same basic idea. They are designed to fur­ther con­nec­tions between dis­ci­plines and devel­op skills of crit­i­cal think­ing and analy­sis. Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­grams can be either a Bach­e­lor of Arts or Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree. The essen­tial dif­fer­ence between these is a BA requires addi­tion­al lan­guage cours­es, and the BS requires more research cours­es or more cred­its in gen­er­al. Besides being either a BA or BS, there is a lot of vari­a­tion from school to school. 

On this list, you’ll dis­cov­er that some schools have more choice than oth­ers in terms of cur­ricu­lum. Some give you the abil­i­ty to con­struct your own major. Oth­ers give lim­it­ed choic­es and dis­ci­plines to choose from while oth­ers offer a gen­er­al core and a select num­ber of minors to choose in the cre­ation of your degree. You also may dis­cov­er that some inter­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­grams are more rig­or­ous than oth­ers. With the advent of online learn­ing, there are many that offer degrees com­plete­ly online, while oth­ers allow you to choose your deliv­ery (along with your curriculum).

Anoth­er note about Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies pro­grams is that most require more involved advi­sors. Col­leges usu­al­ly require you to find fac­ul­ty men­tors, assem­ble an advis­ing com­mit­tee, and present a pro­pos­al to enter an IS pro­gram. Some schools are more rig­or­ous than oth­ers in this regard, and you have to con­vince the pan­el or com­mit­tee of the ratio­nale and use­ful­ness of your degree. Also, depend­ing on the school, you may be required to reg­u­lar­ly check in and report on your progress while main­tain­ing a high GPA. Anoth­er com­mon require­ment to note is the senior cap­stone project and prac­ti­cal work expe­ri­ence or internship. 

Methodology: Top 30 Best Bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Studies

The fol­low­ing list of Bach­e­lor’s in Inter­dis­ci­plina ry Stud­ies was com­piled to help stu­dents find the best degree for their inter­ests. Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degrees are broad, and col­leges offer a great vari­ety of options. Our goal was to find a range of degrees to make sure that each stu­dents’ inter­ests were rep­re­sent­ed. We com­piled a list and col­lect­ed data for each pro­gram. Cal­cu­la­tions were made based on cost per cred­it hour, stu­dent to fac­ul­ty ratio, rep­u­ta­tion, and aver­age ear­ly career salary. Data was col­lect­ed from school web­sites, the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics, and U. S. News and World Report. The rank­ing was based on the fol­low­ing calculations:

• Cost per cred­it hour — 25%
• Rep­u­ta­tion — 25%
• Fac­ul­ty to stu­dent ratio — 25%
• Grad­u­a­tion rate — 25%

1. Wheaton College

• Loca­tion: Wheaton, IL
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,391
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Commission

Wheaton Col­lege in Illi­nois is one of the best Chris­t­ian col­leges in Amer­i­ca. Wheaton is con­sis­tent­ly ranked by both sec­u­lar and Chris­t­ian orga­ni­za­tions for aca­d­e­mics and a robust spir­i­tu­al envi­ron­ment. The most notable grad­u­ate is the late Bil­ly Gra­ham. With over 100 majors and minors, and 80 study abroad pro­grams, you are in for a full-fledged col­lege expe­ri­ence but in a thor­ough­ly Chris­t­ian atmosphere. 

What makes Wheaton our #1 Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Degree is that com­bi­na­tion we all look for in the mar­ket — the fusion of qual­i­ty and afford­abil­i­ty. Wheaton deliv­ers in terms of aca­d­e­mics. The IDS pro­gram is not a hodge­podge of cred­its, but a very inten­tion­al focus on fos­ter­ing cre­ativ­i­ty in light of WU’s Chris­t­ian world­view. It starts with the “guid­ing direc­tive,” a pur­pose, theme, or top­ic that is explored through­out the pro­gram. For exam­ple, how do Chris­t­ian ethics inter­re­late with bio­chem­istry? Through the inte­gra­tion of two or three dis­ci­plines, you will choose cours­es, engage in lead­er­ship, par­tic­i­pate in the IDS Chapel time, and com­plete a final research project. Since WU is a fam­i­ly of faith, the social aspect of edu­ca­tion is an incred­i­ble intan­gi­ble ben­e­fit that’s worth men­tion­ing. You reap those ben­e­fits in the IDS pro­gram through men­tor­ing, study abroad pro­grams, and spring trips to name a few. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1011
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/programs/interdisciplinary-studies/

2. Seattle University

• Loca­tion: Seat­tle, WA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,560
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Found­ed by the Jesuits in 1898, Seat­tle Uni­ver­si­ty is one of 28 mem­ber insti­tu­tions of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Jesuit Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties. SU is known for over­all excel­lence and is reg­u­lar­ly ranked high in just about every area— from Law and grad­u­ate degrees to sports and ser­vice. The Uni­ver­si­ty is divid­ed into eight col­leges offer­ing more than 120 under­grad­u­ate, grad­u­ate, and cer­tifi­cate pro­grams. Stu­dents at SU serve the com­mu­ni­ty with three times the nation­al average.

Seat­tle Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Lib­er­al Stud­ies (IDLS) and an Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Lib­er­al Stud­ies with an empha­sis in Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion K‑8. Both degrees build on a Jesuit edu­ca­tion­al tra­di­tion that focus­es on how stud­ies relate to ben­e­fit mankind. The ILDS pro­gram is a great launch­ing pad to a career or grad­u­ate pro­gram. The program’s cur­ricu­lum focus­es on four areas: Human­i­ties, Social Sci­ence, Nat­ur­al Sci­ence, and Quan­ti­ta­tive and Com­pu­ta­tion­al Rea­son­ing. After the 25-cred­it Strate­gic Core, you move into the 60-cred­it IDLS score. With­in the four areas, you choose cours­es of study with fac­ul­ty men­tor­ship from begin­ning to end. The Asso­ci­a­tion for Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies guides SU’s IDLS. This means you focus on research, lead­er­ship, and real-work project-based learning. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $973
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/undergraduate-degrees/interdisciplinary-liberal-studies/

3. Molloy College

• Loca­tion: Rockville Cen­tre, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,534
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Mol­loy Col­lege is a pri­vate, non-prof­it, Catholic school locat­ed in Rockville Cen­tre, New York. It was found­ed in 1941 as a wom­en’s col­lege. It has since become coed­u­ca­tion­al and con­tin­ues to grow its pro­grams and stu­dent body. In fact, in the last decade, MC has expe­ri­enced a 26-per­cent enroll­ment growth. The School offers over 50 majors and is best known for nurs­ing and business. 

At Mol­loy, you have three basic options for an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree. You can earn a BA or BS in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies or com­bine the Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary with Child­hood Edu­ca­tion. Flex­i­bil­i­ty and choice are dis­tin­guish­ing char­ac­ter­is­tics. You can choose to cre­ate your own degree from two or more dis­ci­plines, you can com­plete it online, on-cam­pus, or hybrid. You can also take exist­ing cred­its from incom­plete degrees or oth­er schools and use those to earn a Bachelor’s in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies. The pro­gram includes a sum­mer intern­ship and an inte­grat­ed project which involves in-depth research and the abil­i­ty to write well. There are some pre­req­ui­sites for get­ting into the Pro­gram. These include pre­sent­ing your declared con­cen­tra­tions to the chair­per­son and their approval in your first year. If you have trans­fer cred­its you are required to take 12 of the required cred­its for each area of con­cen­tra­tion at Molloy. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1005
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.molloy.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/interdisciplinary-studies

4. University of Virginia

• Loca­tion: Char­lottesville, VA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 16,655
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 15 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia is a pub­lic-pri­vate flag­ship and research uni­ver­si­ty in Char­lottesville, Vir­ginia. Inter­est­ing­ly, UNESCO des­ig­nat­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty as Amer­i­ca’s first and only col­le­giate World Her­itage Site in 1987, an hon­or shared with near­by Mon­ti­cel­lo. “Vir­ginia,” as it the School is called, was found­ed by Thomas Jef­fer­son in 1819 and con­tin­ues the founder’s mis­sion to “devel­op tomorrow’s lead­ers who are well pre­pared to help shape the future of the nation and the world.”

The Bach­e­lor of Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies (BIS) degree is an online degree-com­ple­tion pro­gram. It’s per­fect for adult learn­ers, trans­fers, and any­one who wants to com­plete their col­lege edu­ca­tion. The BIS degree is 120 cred­its and can be tak­en online, on-cam­pus, or hybrid in a part-time for­mat. This nor­mal­ly works out to two evening class­es a week for three or four years. As for the cours­es, you first com­plete the required Lib­er­al Arts Sem­i­nars which focus on foun­da­tion­al knowl­edge and skills. You then cre­ate your own pro­gram with guid­ance from your advi­sor by choos­ing from Busi­ness, Cyber Secu­ri­ty Analy­sis, Health Care Man­age­ment, Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, and Lib­er­al Arts. You are required to com­plete two cap­stones which include ana­lyt­i­cal rea­son­ing, writ­ing, a project, and pro­fes­sion­al integration. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1439
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.scps.virginia.edu/programs/bachelor-interdisciplinary-studies-degree

5. New College of Florida

• Loca­tion: Sara­so­ta, FL
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 835 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Colleges

New Col­lege of Flori­da is known for deliv­er­ing an Ivy-lev­el edu­ca­tion. List­ed in Loren Pope’s Col­leges that Change Lives, and col­lect­ing numer­ous acco­lades as well, New Col­lege is a lib­er­al arts school that offers 35 areas of con­cen­tra­tion. NCF is par­tic­u­lar­ly known for arts and music and focus­es on active, hands-on learn­ing to achieve mas­tery in all sub­jects. NCF is locat­ed in Sara­so­ta, Flori­da on a beau­ti­ful 110-acre cam­pus with sev­er­al new buildings. 

The BA in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies at New Col­lege is not for the faint of heart. Known for aca­d­e­m­ic rig­or, stu­dents select from an area of con­cen­tra­tion: Biopsy­chol­o­gy, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, Inter­na­tion­al and Area Stud­ies, Gen­der Stud­ies, Medieval and Renais­sance Stud­ies, Pub­lic Pol­i­cy, or The­ater. The pro­gram is taught by rec­og­nized fac­ul­ty and includes a senior the­sis. When look­ing at New Col­lege, the val­ue is not only in the pro­gram, though the price is one of the best at $831 per cred­it. The cam­pus and stu­dent body form a great con­text for learn­ing. The aver­age high school GPA of incom­ing fresh­men is 3.99 and you will have access to excel­lent resource facil­i­ties such as the Caples Fine Arts Com­plex, the Pritzk­er Marine Biol­o­gy Research Cen­ter with sev­en research labs and over 100 aquar­i­ums, or the brand new stu­dent cen­ter, the Hamil­ton Center. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $831
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.ncf.edu/academics/undergraduate-program/

6. North Central College

• Loca­tion: Naperville, IL
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,769
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Commission

North Cen­tral Col­lege is a pri­vate lib­er­al arts school in the his­toric dis­trict of Naperville, Illi­nois. Naperville is near Chica­go and thus give stu­dents access to the Argonne Nation­al Lab­o­ra­to­ry and the Fer­mi Nation­al Accel­er­a­tor Lab­o­ra­to­ry. NCC is known for incred­i­ble Inter­na­tion­al Study oppor­tu­ni­ties from full exchange pro­grams with a num­ber of coun­tries, sum­mer trips, or Decem­ber term excursions. 

At North Cen­tral, the Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­grams are designed based on a long expe­ri­ence and offered as majors, minors and grad­u­ate pro­grams. The Bachelor’s in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies include East Asian Stud­ies, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, and Glob­al Stud­ies and a num­ber of minor options as well. All the pro­grams build on Core and All-Col­lege Require­ments of NC with the spe­cial­ized inter­dis­ci­pli­nary options. For exam­ple, the BA in East Asian Stud­ies includes all core require­ments, some fun­da­men­tal cours­es such as Intro­duc­tion to East Asia in the major, then a Japan­ese or Chi­nese track. Regard­less, every option of Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Majors includes unique stu­dent oppor­tu­ni­ties such as study abroad options, spe­cial­ized research, Mod­el Unit­ed Nations sim­u­la­tions, and more. Notably, the Glob­al Stud­ies option includes the pos­si­bil­i­ty of earn­ing the Richter Inde­pen­dent Study Fel­low­ship of up to $5000 to fund your research. What­ev­er you choose, it is clear, NC offers some of the best options in terms of qual­i­ty and price in the country

• Cost per Cred­it: $1075
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.northcentralcollege.edu/colleges-schools-departments/interdisciplinary-programs

7. Grand Valley State University

• Loca­tion: Allen­dale, MI
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 21,937
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 16 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

One of the largest, and green­est uni­ver­si­ties in our nation, Grand Val­ley State Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Allen­dale, Michi­gan. Estab­lished in 1960, the School edu­cates through its main cam­pus, down­town cam­pus in Grand Rapids, inter­na­tion­al cam­pus in Hol­land, as well as through sev­er­al com­mu­ni­ty col­leges. GVSU offers incred­i­ble aca­d­e­m­ic choic­es and extracur­ric­u­lars, with over 4000 study abroad options and 400 stu­dent clubs.

The Lib­er­al Stud­ies Depart­ment offers a BA or BS in Lib­er­al Stud­ies. The Pro­gram is an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree as you take the core cur­ricu­lum, then, with guid­ance from a fac­ul­ty advi­sor, cre­ate a major in the areas of study you desire. Stu­dents base their major on a theme, issue, prob­lem, or career inter­est and, in addi­tion, are encour­aged to choose an area of empha­sis as well. One such option is the Lead­er­ship Empha­sis. The lead­er­ship com­po­nent is a 19-month cohort option in a hybrid for­mat that will increase your mar­ketabil­i­ty and skills. All Lib­er­al Stud­ies majors are required to par­tic­i­pate in an Intern­ship or Practicum and a Senior Sem­i­nar. The Intern­ship includes par­tic­i­pate in a super­vised work expe­ri­ence, the Practicum is a com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice com­po­nent, and the Sem­i­nar is the aca­d­e­m­ic por­tion involv­ing research and writing. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $742
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.gvsu.edu/liberalstudies/

8. Reed College

• Loca­tion: Port­land, OR
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1,447
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Universities

Reed Col­lege is nes­tled in the gor­geous Pacif­ic North­west. A small, pri­vate school in Port­land, Ore­gon, Reed is rec­og­nized on Pope’s Col­leges that Change Lives and is known for out­stand­ing schol­ar­ship and its pro­gres­sive cam­pus cul­ture. All stu­dents are required to take the lib­er­al arts core and com­plete a rig­or­ous senior the­sis. The Tudor-Goth­ic style archi­tec­ture and famous north­west trees are also worth men­tion­ing as they cre­ate a fab­u­lous atmos­phere for study.

Reed’s aca­d­e­m­ic vision and method are unique. Fresh­men all take Human­i­ties 110, juniors all take a test of mas­tery to pre­pare for research into the senior the­sis, and all seniors com­plete a the­sis. Stu­dents do not receive grades but move through Reed with fac­ul­ty feed­back and sub­ject mas­tery. There are 16 Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies majors at Reed. Exam­ples include but are not lim­it­ed to Amer­i­can Stud­ies, Bio­chem­istry, and Mol­e­c­u­lar Biol­o­gy, Classics–Religion, Math­e­mat­ics-Com­put­er Sci­ence, and Literature–Theatre. You also have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to dou­ble major with some. Though the price per cred­it one of the more expen­sive options, it’s impor­tant to note dis­tinc­tions: close fac­ul­ty inter­ac­tion, fac­ul­ty acco­lades, insti­tu­tion­al excel­lence and expe­ri­ence, cam­pus, stu­dent life, and more tru­ly make Reed what it is.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1867
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.reed.edu/

9. Radford University

• Loca­tion: Rad­ford, VA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 8,418 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 16 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Orig­i­nal­ly a teacher train­ing school for women, Rad­ford is now a mid-sized, pub­lic, coed­u­ca­tion­al school. Locat­ed in Rad­ford, Vir­ginia, the School offers over 100 degrees to about 9500 total stu­dents. RU is known for lib­er­al arts and sci­ences at a very afford­able cost. Stu­dents enjoy out­door and leisure activ­i­ties at New Riv­er in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Col­lege of Human­i­ties and Behav­ioral Sci­ences offers an Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies degree (IDSL). The IDLS allows you to build your own degree by com­bin­ing two dis­ci­plines. You can choose to make it a BA or a BS; the dif­fer­ence being the BA involves more lan­guage require­ments and the BS more class­es (six to eight more semes­ter hours) with a research focus. Regard­less, all stu­dents in the IDSL pro­gram are required to com­plete an intern­ship. Some exam­ples include Wom­en’s Resource Cen­ter of the NRV, New Riv­er Com­mu­ni­ty Action, and Boys & Girls Clubs of South­west Vir­ginia. Admis­sion into the IDSL pro­gram is essen­tial­ly two steps (after you’re admit­ted into RU): first, you meet with the IDSL Inter­im Direc­tor, and next, you meet with your advi­sor to guide you in con­struct­ing your degree and choos­ing a plan of study. All in all, what RU offers is a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion at the most inex­pen­sive price on our list!

• Cost per Cred­it: $354
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home/interdisciplinary.html

10. University of Scranton

• Loca­tion: Scran­ton, PA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,810 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 12 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

“Reli­gio Mores Cul­tura—Reli­gion Morals Cul­ture” is the mot­to of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Scran­ton. Found­ed as St. Thomas Col­lege in 1888, the School edu­cates in the Catholic Jesuit spir­i­tu­al tra­di­tion. The pri­vate, lib­er­al arts uni­ver­si­ty requires every stu­dent to take core class­es, includ­ing two the­ol­o­gy cours­es and two phi­los­o­phy cours­es in line with the Jesuit found­ing. The most pop­u­lar majors are Nurs­ing, Biol­o­gy, Kine­si­ol­o­gy and Exer­cise Sci­ence and Accounting.

At the Uni­ver­si­ty of Scran­ton, the Indi­vid­u­al­ized Major (IM) is designed for the moti­vat­ed stu­dent. With­in the Jesuit tra­di­tion of intel­lec­tu­al excel­lence, admis­sion con­sists of first hav­ing a 3.0 GPA, a pro­pos­al to the Col­lege of Arts and Sci­ence Dean in the sec­ond semes­ter of your sopho­more year. The pro­pos­al has to be pre-approved by two men­tor fac­ul­ty. It is then reviewed, and if approved by the Indi­vid­u­al­ized Pro­gram Board, adopt­ed. Once your plan is in place you work through the cur­ricu­lum con­sist­ing of a min­i­mum of 36 cred­its (on top of the lib­er­al arts core). In order to grad­u­ate you are required to meet with your men­tors, write a reflec­tion paper of your progress, and main­tain a C aver­age. All stu­dents are required to com­plete the inte­gra­tive cap­stone, a high­light of the pro­gram. Among our top 30, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Scran­ton is one of the most rig­or­ous and expensive.

• Cost per Cred­it: $2451
• Pro­gram Web­site: http://catalog.scranton.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=28&poid=5532

11. The University of Tennessee at Martin

• Loca­tion: Mar­tin, TN
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 6,330 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 15 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ten­nessee at Mar­tin is a com­pre­hen­sive, pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty in West Ten­nessee. UTM offers over 100 aca­d­e­m­ic areas of study with­in 17 under­grad­u­ate degree pro­grams and also offers Master’s degrees. UTM oper­ates a large exper­i­men­tal farm and cen­ters are locat­ed in Jack­son, Par­sons, Rip­ley, Selmer and Somerville. Pop­u­lar majors at UTM include Busi­ness, Man­age­ment, Mar­ket­ing, Agri­cul­ture, Multi/Interdisciplinary Stud­ies, and Education.

The Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion, Health, and Behav­ioral Sci­ences at UTM offers the Bach­e­lor of Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies (BIS) degree. The BIS degree can be com­plet­ed online or face-to-face. This makes it a great option for adult learn­ers or work­ing pro­fes­sion­als. With a low price of $518 per cred­it and a sol­id aca­d­e­m­ic rep­u­ta­tion, UTM is a good com­bi­na­tion of price and qual­i­ty. Once admit­ted into the Uni­ver­si­ty you will need to speak with an advi­sor to deter­mine your plan for the BIS, espe­cial­ly to deter­mine pre­vi­ous cred­its. You need to have a min­i­mum GPA of 2.0. Notably, UTM accepts up to 60 hours of non-col­lege cred­it includ­ing mil­i­tary, DANTES, CLEP and Port­fo­lio cred­it hours. The Pro­gram basi­cal­ly con­sists of a Gen­er­al Core, your areas of focus, and elec­tives. You can choose mul­ti­ple areas, but none may be more than 50 credits. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $518
• Pro­gram Web­site: 

12. North Greenville University

• Loca­tion: Tigerville, SC
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,358
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Colleges

Faith and learn­ing are tak­en seri­ous­ly at North Greenville Uni­ver­si­ty. The pri­vate, Chris­t­ian school requires all staff and stu­dents to make a pro­fes­sion of faith in Jesus Christ. Learn­ing is para­mount and NGU ranks high in afford­abil­i­ty, among Chris­t­ian schools, and for aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence. The School is locat­ed in Tigerville, North Car­oli­na, 11 miles north of Greenville. NGU awards Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor’s degrees. 

The BS in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies at NGU works well for those with a broad aca­d­e­m­ic inter­est. It also helps set the stage for fur­ther edu­ca­tion or train­ing. The cur­ricu­lum con­sists of choos­ing a pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary empha­sis among many choic­es. Pri­ma­ry focus includes Account­ing , Biol­o­gy, Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, Com­put­er Sci­ence, and Psy­chol­o­gy to name some. Sec­ondary con­cen­tra­tions include many more options such as Art, Avi­a­tion Minor, Chris­t­ian Stud­ies, Edu­ca­tion, and Lin­guis­tics to name only some. If you are moti­vat­ed you can also add a minor (18 cred­its). It should be not­ed that every stu­dent is required to a senior sem­i­nar and, in light of the spir­i­tu­al focus at NGU, to attend chapel and cul­tur­al events. If you’re look­ing for a Chris­t­ian school with aca­d­e­m­ic know-how at an afford­able price—NGU is #2 for afford­abil­i­ty in our top 30—you just found what you’re look­ing for. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $395
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.ngu.edu/interdisciplinary-studies-bs.php

13. Simpson College

• Loca­tion: Indi­anola, IN
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1,432 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Commission

But­tressed by the beau­ti­ful Bux­ton Park Arbore­tum, Simp­son Col­lege edu­cates men and women in the lib­er­al arts tra­di­tion. The School was found­ed in 1913 and is locat­ed in Indi­anola, Iowa, about 10 miles from Des Moines. SC offers 80 majors, minors and pro­grams; the most pop­u­lar majors are Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion and Man­age­ment, Crim­i­nal Justice/Law Enforce­ment Admin­is­tra­tion; Edu­ca­tion, and Psychology.

Simp­son Col­lege is a mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion for Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies. Guid­ed by the Asso­ci­a­tion, the Col­lege offers an Inde­pen­dent Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Major (IIM). The IIM is for the moti­vat­ed stu­dent. The fol­low­ing majors work well and are avail­able with oth­er com­bi­na­tions: Bio­chem­istry, Foren­sic Sci­ence, Neu­ro­science, Inter­na­tion­al Rela­tions, Lib­er­al Stud­ies Major for Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion, and Social Jus­tice Stud­ies. With­in these majors, you choose areas that com­ple­ment and enhance them such as Women’s and Gen­der Stud­ies, Sus­tain­abil­i­ty, Foren­sic Sci­ence, Latin Amer­i­can Stud­ies, and Art His­to­ry. SC also offers IIM degrees with the Pre-Phys­i­cal Ther­a­py or Pre-Law Pro­gram. All stu­dents com­plete a senior project. Admis­sion to the pro­gram requires a strong aca­d­e­m­ic poten­tial, min­i­mum GPA of 3.0, a pro­pos­al of your course of study, and two let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion from faculty.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1280

14. Winthrop University

• Loca­tion: Rock Hill, SC
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 5,014 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s certificate
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

In 1886 a teach­ing col­lege opened with 21 stu­dents. Winthrop now trains over 6000 indi­vid­u­als and awards about 70 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate degrees in a vari­ety of fields. The cam­pus is adorned with neo-Geor­gian build­ings and is includ­ed in the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places and is set near Winthrop Lake. 

If you are dri­ven to study a vari­ety of fields, love cre­ativ­i­ty and inde­pen­dence, and are moti­vat­ed, the Bach­e­lor of Arts in Indi­vid­u­al­ized Stud­ies (IDVS) at Winthrop may fit the bill. The BA offers stu­dents the chance to excel in writ­ten and oral com­mu­ni­ca­tion, ana­lyt­i­cal and crit­i­cal think­ing, knowl­edge syn­the­sis, and col­lab­o­ra­tive work. Exam­ples of cur­rent IDVS pro­grams include Foren­sic Anthro­pol­o­gy, Script and Design for the Dig­i­tal Game Indus­try, Entre­pre­neur­ship in the Cre­ative Indus­try, and Inter­na­tion­al Com­mu­ni­ty and Devel­op­ment. Like oth­er pro­grams on our list, you need to demon­strate the val­ue of your plan before it’s accept­ed. You do this by first assem­bling a Fac­ul­ty Com­mit­tee with three fac­ul­ty advi­sors. Act­ing as your men­tors, they work with you to cre­ate your Plan of Study (36 cred­its and at least two dis­ci­plines), exe­cute it, and com­plete your senior cap­stone project. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1229

15. Bennington College

• Loca­tion: Ben­ning­ton, VT
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,534
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: New Eng­land Com­mis­sion of High­er Education

Ben­ning­ton Col­lege was formed out of a desire to bet­ter edu­cate the next gen­er­a­tion through inno­v­a­tive teach­ing and learn­ing. BC is a pri­vate lib­er­al arts school in Ver­mont found­ed in 1932. Their focus is on self-direct­ed learn­ing and hands-on edu­ca­tion. All stu­dents at BC receive indi­vid­u­al­ized aca­d­e­m­ic plan­ning and grad­u­ate-style advis­ing called the Plan Process; this accounts for the incred­i­ble 80 per­cent of grad­u­ates being engaged at work com­pared to the 39 per­cent nation­al average.

The indi­vid­u­al­ized plan, designed through the Plan Process for all stu­dents, is an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree. The Plan involves a three-per­son fac­ul­ty com­mit­tee that guides you in the cre­ation of your study, plan­ning of work expe­ri­ences, and reg­u­lar­ly gives you feed­back in order to com­plete it. Areas of study that can be devel­oped, com­bined and stud­ied cre­ative­ly include: Dance, Dra­ma, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, Lan­guages, Lit­er­a­ture, Music, Sci­ence, Math­e­mat­ics, and Com­put­er Sci­ence, Soci­ety, Cul­ture, and Thought, and Visu­al Arts. With these areas and no required cours­es, you tru­ly choose your unique study. Class­es come in three-week, sev­en-week, or full-term cours­es. In addi­tion to class work, every stu­dent is required to engage in an annu­al intern­ship, one of the few schools in the nation to do so. There is also a senior cap­stone experience.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1772
• Pro­gram Web­site: http://www.bennington.edu/academics/plan

16. Daemen College

• Loca­tion: Amherst, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1,801 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 12 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Dae­men Col­lege is a four-year, lib­er­al arts col­lege locat­ed in Amherst, New York. Found­ed by a Catholic nun, the Col­lege is now non-sec­tar­i­an and known for open inquiry and debate as well as com­pe­ten­cy-based core cur­ricu­lum root­ed in the lib­er­al arts. Stu­dents are also required to serve the com­mu­ni­ty at Dae­mon. The most pop­u­lar majors are Nurs­ing, Nat­ur­al Sci­ences, Busi­ness, and Social Work. 

In line with Daemon’s edu­ca­tion­al vision of inquiry and cre­ative think­ing, the Col­lege offers their Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Pro­gram (IP). The IP at Dae­mon incor­po­rates Coop­er­a­tive Edu­ca­tion, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, Foren­sic Stud­ies, Indi­vid­u­al­ized Stud­ies, Inter­na­tion­al Stud­ies, and Mil­i­tary Sci­ence (ROTC) into an excit­ing pro­gram. Exam­ples of options include, but aren’t lim­it­ed to Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, Glob­al and Local Sus­tain­abil­i­ty, Polit­i­cal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Refugee & Migra­tion Stud­ies, and Wom­en’s Stud­ies. There a num­ber of minors that can com­ple­ment your area of study as well. Depend­ing on the area of study you are encour­aged to engage in mean­ing­ful intern­ships that add val­ue to your inter­dis­ci­pli­nary stud­ies degree. There are also options to study abroad in your IP, for exam­ple, the Civ­il Soci­ety and Sus­tain­able Com­mu­ni­ties Minor. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $933
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.daemen.edu/academics/value-added-opportunities/interdisciplinary-studies

17. Norwich University

• Loca­tion: North­field, VT
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,225 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: New Eng­land Com­mis­sion of High­er Education

As the old­est pri­vate mil­i­tary col­lege, Nor­wich Uni­ver­si­ty has deep roots. Going back to 1819 and the pio­neer­ing work of founder Cap­tain Alden Par­tridge, the Uni­ver­si­ty seeks to lib­er­al­ly edu­cate men and women to be use­ful and enlight­ened cit­i­zens. NU is com­mit­ted to pub­lic lead­er­ship and ser­vice and is the birth­place of the ROTC program. 

If you have at least 30 cred­it hours of pri­or col­lege course­work or equiv­a­lent mil­i­tary or pro­fes­sion­al train­ing, you can apply to the Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Pro­gram at Nor­wich. The Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Bachelor’s in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies com­plete­ly online. Norwich’s online IS pro­gram is per­fect for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als and adult learn­ers; the School accepts up to 90 trans­fer cred­its. There are basi­cal­ly four steps to com­plete your Bachelor’s: Elec­tive cours­es, Core cur­ricu­lum, which involves six aca­d­e­m­ic areas, a con­cen­tra­tion, and the Cap­stone project. Through­out these areas, the focus is always on effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion, prob­lem-solv­ing, col­lab­o­ra­tion, crit­i­cal think­ing, and research and analy­sis that will lead to pro­duc­tive careers. Exam­ples include Data Ana­lyst, Exec­u­tive Assis­tant, Fed­er­al Agent, and For­eign Ambas­sador to name only some. Admis­sion includes an asso­ciate degree or min­i­mum of 30 cred­its and NU offers mul­ti­ple start dates per year for your convenience.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1261
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://online.norwich.edu/academic-programs/bachelors/interdisciplinary-studies/overview

18. The University of Oklahoma 

• Loca­tion: Nor­man, OK
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 22,032 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Okla­homa is a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty and was found­ed in 1890 in Okla­homa Ter­ri­to­ry. Today it is locat­ed in Nor­man, Okla­homa and is an aca­d­e­m­ic pow­er­house. The Uni­ver­si­ty offers 152 under­grad­u­ate pro­grams, 160 master’s pro­grams, and 75 doc­tor­ate pro­grams. It is clas­si­fied as a research uni­ver­si­ty with “very high research activity.”

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Okla­homa offers a Bach­e­lor of Arts Lib­er­al Stud­ies through their Extend­ed Cam­pus. The degree is focused on train­ing pro­fes­sion­als with crit­i­cal think­ing skills who are pre­pared to suc­cess­ful­ly nav­i­gate in our tech­no­log­i­cal world. This accel­er­at­ed pro­gram is designed for the work­ing adult. Stu­dents who are admit­ted to the pro­gram are assigned an advi­sor who helps design an indi­vid­u­al­ized grad­u­a­tion plan. All cours­es are eight weeks long and are fast-paced and inten­sive. The pro­gram can be com­plet­ed in as lit­tle as 18 months depend­ing on how many cred­its you trans­fer from anoth­er insti­tu­tion. Stu­dents can choose a pri­ma­ry focus in human­i­ties, social sci­ences, ecol­o­gy and evo­lu­tion, as well as sev­er­al oth­er options. This is one of the few com­plete­ly online pro­grams on the list, mak­ing it worth considering.

• Cost per Cred­it: $904
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://pacs.ou.edu/undergraduate-degrees/bachelor-liberal-studies/

19. University of Arkansas

• Loca­tion: Fayet­teville, AR
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 23,044
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Two but less than 4 years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Arkansas is a large, pub­lic, land-grant uni­ver­si­ty and flag­ship of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Arkansas Sys­tem. Stu­dents enjoy all the perks and choice our large uni­ver­si­ties offer, from numer­ous cen­ters, over 200 degrees, many stu­dent groups and extracur­ric­u­lar options, to a clas­sic col­lege cam­pus. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Arkansas is locat­ed in Fayet­teville, Arkansas and is known for agri­cul­ture, busi­ness, archi­tec­ture, and law.

The way the Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies degree works at UA is sim­ple. You take the School’s core cur­ricu­lum and then choose three minors to cre­ate your degree. Class­es are avail­able 100 online and there are 120 total cred­its in the pro­gram. The core cur­ricu­lum con­sists of 35 semes­ter-cred­it-hours of gen­er­al edu­ca­tion cours­es. Avail­able minors that can be tak­en online include African and African Amer­i­can Stud­ies, Child Advo­ca­cy Stud­ies Train­ing, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, Gen­er­al Busi­ness, Jour­nal­ism, Social Work, or Span­ish. Once you are admit­ted to the Uni­ver­si­ty you con­sult with the Ful­bright Advis­ing Cen­ter to decide your plan of study. After this, you must main­tain a 2.5 GPA to stay in the pro­gram (if you fall under that you have one semes­ter to bring it back up).

• Cost per Cred­it: $780
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://online.uark.edu/programs/bachelor-arts-interdisciplinary-studies.php

20. University of Alaska Southeast

• Loca­tion: Juneau, AK
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,060 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Universities

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Alas­ka South­east is one of the three insti­tu­tions and 19 cam­pus­es in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Alas­ka Sys­tem. UA South­east is locat­ed in Juneau and also oper­ates cam­pus­es in Sit­ka and Ketchikan. The Uni­ver­si­ty is divid­ed into the School of Arts and Sci­ences, Career Edu­ca­tion, and Edu­ca­tion. UAS has excel­lent research facil­i­ties and is set in the nat­ur­al and expan­sive beau­ty that makes the state unique.

The Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts (BLA) is UAS’s inter­dis­ci­pli­nary study pro­gram. The BLA is specif­i­cal­ly designed for those with an Asso­ciates degree, trans­fer stu­dents, or learn­ers desir­ing to com­plete their edu­ca­tion. The Degree pre­pares you for careers or grad­u­ate pro­grams. Exam­ples of grad­u­ate work include Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (MBA), Ele­men­tary or Sec­ondary Teach­ing (MAT), and Pub­lic Admin­is­tra­tion (MPA). The 120-cred­it pro­gram has 60 total cred­its required for the major, of which 45 must be com­plet­ed through UAS. Once enrolled you choose Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies or an Inde­pen­dent Design. The Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary option fea­tures Pri­ma­ry and Sec­ondary inter­ests that you choose. The Inde­pen­dent Design is more flex­i­ble and for the high­ly-moti­vat­ed. Both the options include a cap­stone, which can be writ­ten, cre­ative (for exam­ple, a media pro­duc­tion), a the­sis, research project, or a project port­fo­lio which is pre­sent­ed at a conference. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $751

21. Arizona State University

• Loca­tion: Tempe, AZ
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 42,477
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 23 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies

To say Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty is a large uni­ver­si­ty may be an under­state­ment. ASU is a world. It is known for inno­va­tion, research, excel­lent aca­d­e­mics, and stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion. The most pop­u­lar majors at ASU are Busi­ness, Man­age­ment, Mar­ket­ing, Engi­neer­ing, Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences, Social Sci­ences, and Visu­al and Per­form­ing Arts.

What ASU offers for their inter­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­gram is an afford­able online option. ASU’s Bachelor’s in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies is $520 per cred­it, #5 of our top 30. If accept­ed into the school, you will com­plete 40 class­es and have an option to fast-track your degree. The pro­gram begins every 7.5 weeks so there is a lot of flex­i­bil­i­ty in start­ing. The Col­lege of Inte­gra­tive Sci­ences and Arts, you will expe­ri­ence ded­i­cat­ed and nation­al­ly rec­og­nized fac­ul­ty in your online pro­gram. Like oth­er pro­grams on the list, the over­all focus through­out the degree is on com­mu­ni­ca­tion, ver­sa­til­i­ty, self-assess­ment and crit­i­cal think­ing. The BIS degree at ASU works by build­ing on their core cur­ricu­lum. Work­ing with an advi­sor your choose two con­cen­tra­tions among over 140 options. All in all, for qual­i­ty, flex­i­bil­i­ty, and price, ASU shines. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $520
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://asuonline.asu.edu/online-degree-programs/undergraduate/bachelor-interdisciplinary-studies

22. Plymouth State University

• Loca­tion: Ply­mouth, NH
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,148 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 17 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: New Eng­land Com­mis­sion of High­er Education

In 1871 a small teach­ing train­ing col­lege opened its doors in Ply­mouth, New Hamp­shire. Ply­mouth State Uni­ver­si­ty now edu­cates about 6000 total stu­dents and offers 53 under­grad­u­ate majors, 60 under­grad­u­ate minors, and 68 grad­u­ate degrees. The School is known for its inno­v­a­tive approach through their sev­en “Inte­gra­tive Clus­ters.” These aim to fos­ter col­lab­o­ra­tion, real-world cross-dis­ci­pline projects, and crit­i­cal thinking.

Dance Entre­pre­neur­ship, Entre­pre­neur­ship of the Arts, Med­ical Illus­tra­tion, Wilder­ness Emer­gency Care, and Music for Ther­a­peu­tic Expres­sion are just some exam­ples of Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degrees grad­u­ates at Ply­mouth State have accom­plished. In step with PSU’s over­all inte­gra­tive approach to edu­ca­tion, they have a strong Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary tra­di­tion and vision. As a sup­port­ing mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion for Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies, the pro­gram involves ped­a­gog­i­cal and cur­ric­u­lar inno­va­tion in order to affect change in our world. Once you decide to move into this cre­ative pro­gram you work with an advi­sor and sub­mit your plan. The BA or BS in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies con­sists of a gen­er­al core and 51 cred­it hours inte­grat­ing two or more dis­ci­plines. All stu­dents must take Intro­duc­tion to Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies and Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies Senior Sem­i­nar as well as at least 24 total cred­its of upper-divi­sion coursework.

• Cost per Cred­it: $675
• Pro­gram Web­site:https://www.plymouth.edu/academics/undergraduate-academic-programs/interdisciplinary-studies/

23. Southeast Missouri State University

• Loca­tion: Cape Girardeau, MO
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 10,693
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 21 to 1
• Degrees Offered: One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Two but less than 4 years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s certificate
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

South­east Mis­souri State Uni­ver­si­ty is a com­pre­hen­sive uni­ver­si­ty in Cape Girardeau, Mis­souri. SMSU has sev­er­al satel­lite cam­pus­es as well and offers more than 200-plus areas of study. The most pop­u­lar majors are Busi­ness, Man­age­ment, Mar­ket­ing, Edu­ca­tion, Health Pro­fes­sions, Lib­er­al Arts and Sci­ences, and Jour­nal­ism. Set in the largest city between St. Louis and Mem­phis, and over­look­ing the Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er, SMSU is a great place to study.

South­west offers the third most inex­pen­sive inter­dis­ci­pli­nary option on our top 30. The BS in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies (IDS) fea­tures the com­bi­na­tion of two to four aca­d­e­m­ic dis­ci­plines to cre­ate your degree. You can com­plete the degree face-to-face, online, or hybrid. Choic­es for your areas are lim­it­ed to Busi­ness (sub­sets avail­able in Account­ing, Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, Man­age­ment, or Mar­ket­ing), Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, Eco­nom­ics, Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture, ESL, His­to­ry, Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy, Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems Mass Media, Math­e­mat­ics and Psy­chol­o­gy. Addi­tion­al areas of empha­sis may be avail­able depend­ing on pri­or cred­its. The IDS pro­gram offers an intern­ship, study-abroad pro­gram, clin­i­cal oppor­tu­ni­ty, stu­dent teach­ing or research intern­ship for every option. The degree at SMSU will work well for trans­fer stu­dents (under 75 pre­vi­ous cred­its), cur­rent stu­dents, or new students. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $399
• Pro­gram Web­site: http://www.semo.edu/online/online-degrees/BS-interdisciplinary-studies.html

24. University of South Florida

• Loca­tion: Tam­pa, FL
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 31,772 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 22 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of South Flori­da is a large, pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty with their main cam­pus in Tam­pa, Flor­dia. It also oper­ates cam­pus­es in St. Peters­burg and Sara­so­ta-Man­a­tee. USF has numer­ous options in every area of col­lege life from 180 under­grad­u­ate and 40 grad­u­ate pro­grams to a boom­ing stu­dent life scene. Research is a defin­ing fea­ture of USF with over $505.9 mil­lion in total research expen­di­tures in fis­cal year 2016. 

USF Sara­so­ta-Man­a­tee offers a Bachelor’s in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Social Sci­ence pro­gram (ISS). The Program’s over­all empha­sis is on research method­ol­o­gy and sta­tis­tics, crit­i­cal obser­va­tion, analy­sis of soci­ety, aware­ness of diver­si­ty, and the cre­ative syn­the­sis of dis­ci­pli­nary knowl­edge to address cur­rent social issues. Since Social Sci­ence is a very broad field of study there are many options with­in this degree in terms of which areas you can com­bine. The cur­ricu­lum is a core of ISS class­es in foun­da­tion­al knowl­edge such as Research Meth­ods in Social Sci­ences, and Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Inquiry, and then you choose from the fol­low­ing con­cen­tra­tions: Crime, Law & Jus­tice, Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence & Pol­i­cy, Gov­ern­ment & Glob­al Affairs, Applied Aging & Well­be­ing, and Social Rela­tions & Pol­i­cy. If you desire, you can add a vari­ety of minors to the ISS degree as well. In addi­tion to a strong the­o­ret­i­cal knowl­edge, you are required to com­plete an intern­ship and Senior Cap­stone where you make prac­ti­cal, real-world applications.

• Cost per Cred­it: $575

25. The Evergreen State College

• Loca­tion: Olympia, WA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,610 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 21 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree,
• Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Universities

Rec­og­nized one of the most inno­v­a­tive col­leges in the West, the Ever­green State Col­lege is a pub­lic lib­er­al arts col­lege locat­ed in Olympia, Wash­ing­ton, between Seat­tle and Port­land, in the heart of the Pacif­ic North­west. The pic­turesque cam­pus is com­prised of more than 1,000 acres of for­est sur­round the cam­pus, with wind­ing trails lead­ing to 3,300 feet of unspoiled beach on the Puget Sound.

Ever­green State Col­lege offers a unique pro­gram. Instead of tak­ing indi­vid­ual class­es, stu­dents take a full course load in a sin­gle 12–16-credit aca­d­e­m­ic pro­gram that explores a cen­tral idea or theme. This pro­gram of study inte­grates dif­fer­ent sub­jects and are taught by fac­ul­ty mem­bers from dif­fer­ent sub­ject areas. The fac­ul­ty teach in teams of two, three, or four and draw on their sep­a­rate dis­ci­plines. Stu­dents work in groups of approx­i­mate­ly 25 peers through­out the pro­gram, and many pro­grams last two or three quar­ters. Pro­grams include lec­tures, labs, read­ings, sem­i­nars, field study, and research projects. As stu­dents trav­el through this one-of-a-kind course of edu­ca­tion, they take class­es and con­nect what they learn into an area of empha­sis. This is sort of like declar­ing a major, but the stu­dents get to decide how to get there, tru­ly the ulti­mate inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree!

• Cost per Cred­it: $563
• Pro­gram Web­site: http://www.evergreen.edu

26. George Mason University

• Loca­tion: Fair­fax, VA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 25,010 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 16 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

George Mason Uni­ver­si­ty is rec­og­nized for its pro­grams in eco­nom­ics, law, cre­ative writ­ing, com­put­er sci­ence, and busi­ness. GMU is locat­ed in Fair­fax, Vir­ginia along with four addi­tion­al cam­pus­es in the U.S. and one in South Korea. Some of the most pop­u­lar majors at GMU are Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion and Man­age­ment, Crim­i­nal Justice/Police, Sci­ence, Biology/Biological Sci­ence, and Accounting. 

The School of Inte­gra­tive Stud­ies (SIS) at GMU has sev­er­al options for inter­dis­ci­pli­nary stud­ies. The SIS offers a BA in Human Devel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Sci­ence, BA in Envi­ron­men­tal and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Stud­ies, and a BS or BA in Inte­gra­tive Stud­ies. All the choic­es fea­ture a strong core of inter­dis­ci­pli­nary stud­ies, the abil­i­ty to cus­tomize with­in lim­its, intern­ships, and ser­vice oppor­tu­ni­ties. The Inte­gra­tive Stud­ies degree is the most flex­i­ble and cus­tomiz­able. You choose which con­cen­tra­tions you’d like to focus on from 10 options. Through the Col­lege of Human­i­ties and Social Sci­ence and the School of Inte­gra­tive Stud­ies (SIS), you ben­e­fit from small class­es, dis­cus­sion, col­lab­o­ra­tive learn­ing, and expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing. For exam­ple, the Alter­nate Break is a ser­vice project dur­ing Spring Break, you can engage in a study abroad expe­ri­ence, and intern at the Depart­ment of State and Con­gres­sion­al offices, the Nation­al Zoo and the Wash­ing­ton Red­skins to name a few. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1355
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://integrative.gmu.edu/degrees-and-programs

27. Midway University

• Loca­tion: Mid­way, KY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1,002 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 16 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Colleges

In 1847 Dr. Lewis Pinker­ton, a physi­cian, and min­is­ter opened the Ken­tucky Female Orphan School. All the way until 2016 the school offered an out­stand­ing lib­er­al arts cur­ricu­lum to women. Now coed­u­ca­tion, the school is set on a work­ing farm in Mid­way, Ken­tucky and is known for their equine pro­gram, health sci­ences, and busi­ness pro­grams to name a few. 

The Bach­e­lor of Arts in Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies at Mid­way is high­ly flex­i­ble and no two stu­dents pro­gram is alike. You may be able to com­plete your BA 100 per­cent online depend­ing on class­es, or hybrid, or 100 per­cent on cam­pus. Work­ing in con­sul­ta­tion with your advi­sors you sub­mit your pro­pos­al to the Dean for pre­sen­ta­tion and approval by the Cur­ricu­lum and Pol­i­cy Com­mit­tee. Once accept­ed the 120-cred­it cur­ricu­lum is essen­tial­ly a Gen­er­al Core, a few required class­es, and a Cap­stone. Required cours­es include Intro­duc­tion to Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies, Experiential/Service Learn­ing, and Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Research. All grad­u­ate of the IS major will be able to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tive­ly, be crit­i­cal thinkers, and be able to uti­lize tech­nol­o­gy, There are also three study abroad options you can choose at MU: Study Abroad, Ser­vice Learn­ing Abroad, and Fac­ul­ty-Led Programs. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $910
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.midway.edu/majors-programs/online-programs/interdisciplinary-studies/

28. Western Kentucky University

• Loca­tion: Bowl­ing Green, KY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 17,656
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Atop “The Hill” and over­look­ing Bar­ren Riv­er Val­ley in Bowl­ing Green, Ken­tucky is West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty. WKU also pro­vides a uni­ver­si­ty edu­ca­tion through three region­al cam­pus­es as well as a grow­ing online por­tal. The School offers over 100 degrees and 100 minors; the most pop­u­lar majors are Nurs­ing, Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion and Man­age­ment, Psy­chol­o­gy, and Education.

The Bach­e­lor of Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies (BIS) at WKU offers 12 areas of empha­sis to com­bine to suit your needs. The BIS is designed for the out­side-the-box stu­dent, who may have chart­ed a course to grad­u­ate school or have an entre­pre­neur­ial idea that doesn’t require a spe­cial­ized area. At WKU, work­ing with advi­sors close­ly, you choose a min­i­mum of 36 semes­ter hours in your areas of inter­est, a gen­er­al edu­ca­tion, inter­dis­ci­pli­nary core, elec­tives, and a cap­stone. If you have an Associate’s degree you do not have to take the 39-cred­it gen­er­al edu­ca­tion com­po­nent (called the Colon­nade). If you are inter­est­ed in online learn­ing and your life goals fit best with the con­ve­nience that it offers, there are four areas that can be tak­en 100 per­cent online: Social & Behav­ioral Sci­ences, Orga­ni­za­tion & Com­mu­ni­ca­tion of Ideas, Busi­ness, and Health. It should be not­ed though, that 25 per­cent of degree and 1/3 of the hours in empha­sis have to be earned in residence. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $737
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.wku.edu/online/bach-programs/bis/

29. Emporia State University

• Loca­tion: Empo­ria, KS
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,605 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 17 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Estab­lished in 1863 as the state’s first school for train­ing teach­ers, Empo­ria State Uni­ver­si­ty was the first pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing in Kansas. The pres­i­dent of Kansas Nor­mal School and its only teacher, Lyman Kel­logg, taught 18 stu­dents on the sec­ond floor of the dis­trict school­house. By the time ESU’s fifth pres­i­dent, Albert R. Tay­lor, took charge, the school was in good con­di­tion with an enroll­ment of about 400, rep­re­sent­ing 43 Kansas coun­ties and nine coun­tries. Today, it is a thriv­ing insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing with an excel­lent online program.

Offered online or on-cam­pus, the inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree at Empo­ria State Uni­ver­si­ty pro­vides stu­dents a mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary pro­gram of study that ful­fills tra­di­tion­al uni­ver­si­ty require­ments. The pro­gram is designed to meet the student’s spe­cif­ic goal for a col­lege degree. Stu­dents work with an aca­d­e­m­ic advi­sor to devel­op their own pro­gram of study, choos­ing from four pro­fi­cien­cy areas: com­mu­ni­ca­tion, infor­ma­tion lit­er­a­cy, prob­lems solving/decision mak­ing, and com­mu­ni­ty lead­er­ship. Not only can stu­dents choose their indi­vid­ual course of study, but they are also giv­en the option to choose their own pace with the option of study­ing either full or part-time. In order to enter the pro­gram, they must have a min­i­mum of 60 hours com­plet­ed at an accred­it­ed col­lege or uni­ver­si­ty and must have a min­i­mum cumu­la­tive GPA of 2.0.

• Cost per Cred­it: $692
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.emporia.edu

30. Corban University

• Loca­tion: Salem, OR
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1,021 
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree
• Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Universities

Cor­ban Uni­ver­si­ty is a small, pri­vate, Chris­t­ian school in Salem, Ore­gon. Cor­ban takes faith and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty seri­ous­ly and requires stu­dents to make a pro­fes­sion of faith in Jesus Christ. CU offers more than 50 pro­grams of study and sev­er­al grad­u­ate degree options. The most pop­u­lar majors are Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion and Man­age­ment, Psy­chol­o­gy, Health/Medical Prepara­to­ry Pro­grams, Theology/Ministry, and Education.

At Cor­ban, the Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Pro­gram works by com­bin­ing two or three areas of inter­est to fit your ambi­tions. Areas to choose from include busi­ness, edu­ca­tion, psy­chol­o­gy, health sci­ence, Eng­lish, crim­i­nal jus­tice, his­to­ry, music, math­e­mat­ics, min­istry, polit­i­cal sci­ence, foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy, exer­cise sci­ence, and media arts. Whether you choose a BA or BS option, the IS degree includes gen­er­al edu­ca­tion cours­es and a min­i­mum of 18 cred­its in each of two or three areas of study; half of these cours­es must be upper-divi­sion. Once you present your areas and ratio­nale it needs to be approved by the depart­ment chairs and Reg­is­trar. Exam­ples of pre­vi­ous com­bi­na­tions and career out­comes are polit­i­cal sci­ence and com­mu­ni­ca­tion to be a cam­paign man­ag­er, or com­bin­ing busi­ness lead­er­ship and man­age­ment with inter­cul­tur­al stud­ies to pre­pare for work in inter­na­tion­al min­istry organizations.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1079
• Pro­gram Web­site: https://www.corban.edu/academics/majors-programs/interdisciplinary-studies/

Relat­ed:

Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts Degree Programs

Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor of Lib­er­al Arts Degree Programs