Fall Application Deadline: Monday, July 23All materials and transcripts must be received by July 23.
Degree
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Overview
This online degree completion program is for students who have completed at least two years of college and would like to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Maybe you have completed an associate’s degree but cannot relocate to take a bachelor’s degree on a campus. Maybe circumstances led you to leave college before you could complete a degree. Maybe you’ve attended several colleges, in different majors, because you are interested in a wide variety of subjects. The program in Liberal Studies can be your path to completing a four-year degree, from wherever you are and on your own schedule.
The Liberal Studies degree values a broad, integrated, and interdisciplinary approach to higher education as distinct from more specialized training. Interdisciplinary studies foster connections among disciplines and draw upon multiple areas of knowledge. By connecting four ways of knowing—arts, humanities, social science, and natural science—this program offers a flexible liberal arts education, allowing students to construct a curriculum that reflects their interests and career goals.
Designed For
- people needing a bachelor’s degree to advance on the job
- graduates of community colleges, tribal colleges, colleges of technology and other two-year academic programs
- military personnel and veterans
- anyone interested in the broad-based education of a liberal studies degree
Tuition and Fees
- Tuition: $222.10 per credit for Resident Distance; $444.20 for Non-resident Distance
- Program Fee: $40 per credit
- Computer Fee: $3.35 per credit
- Registration Fee: $30 per semester registered
What Can I Do with This Degree?
Some of the most exciting and innovative advances in human knowledge are occurring at the intersections of traditional academic disciplines. The kind of intellectual skills provided by rigorous, cross-disciplinary study are increasingly recognized as a solid foundation for success in careers and graduate programs ranging from business and management to medicine. This degree program helps students develop the ability to learn in multiple disciplines, giving graduates the flexibility they need to adapt in rapidly changing work environments.
Careers and opportunities include government, journalism, politics, communication, graduate school, business administration, entrepreneurship, analysis, law school, writing, medical school and many others.
The Liberal Studies program is intended, not to train or provide expertise in any narrowly defined field of study, but to allow students to learn more about themselves and the world, and to explore new areas of knowledge and new ways of thinking. Such outcomes, while important to personal and intellectual growth and enrichment, are also increasingly in demand among employers who seek creative and inquisitive minds, an appreciation for and an ability to apply different methodologies to problem solving, an understanding of the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, strong communication skills, and familiarity with the world’s diversity of thought and culture.
Requirements
A minimum of 120 credits is required to complete the Liberal Studies degree.
- 27-30 credits CORE courses
- 15 credits each in:
- arts
- humanities
- natural science or mathematics
- social sciences
- 8 credits of a foreign language
- Capstone course (LS 401)
- 18-21 elective credits
Notes:
- 45 credits must be completed as a declared LS major
- 42 credits must be upper-division (300- and 400-level)
- at least 9 credits must be at the 400 level in addition to the Capstone experience
- a grade of C- or above must be earned in all required courses
Program Length
The length of time required to complete this degree program will vary according to previous coursework completed, your learning style, the number of courses you take at one time, and career objectives. Courses are available during the summer semester, but you are not required to take them, and you are not required to enroll every semester. Course terms generally follow the university calendar.
Prerequisites
- associate's degree or at least 60 semester hours of college credit from a regionally accredited institution
- GPA of 2.0 or better
All college-level courses from colleges or universities accredited by any of the six regional accrediting agencies at the time the courses were taken will be accepted for transfer. Courses from non-accredited schools will not be accepted for transfer. The Liberal Studies program will determine if the transfer electives satisfy specific curriculum requirements.
Admissions
The application process differs between students returning to MSU and those who would be new transfer students. To be certain you start with the most appropriate steps for your situation, please contact Lesa Pribyl, academic advisor for this program, at lesa.pribyl@montana.edu before proceeding.
Deadlines
- Spring 2013
- To Participate in Priority Registration: Dec. 3, 2012
- Final Deadline: Dec. 14, 2012
- Summer 2013: TBA
- Fall 2013: TBA
Curriculum
Only the Quaternity option is available in the online degree completion program.
For More Information
Lesa Pribyl
Academic Advisor
(406) 994-7441
lesa.pribyl@montana.edu
Explore Further
- Other Montana State Online Degree and Certificate Programs
- Frequently Asked Questions concerning online courses
- MSU Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies
- Is online learning right for you? Find out with our interactive quiz.
