2025 Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Southwest Region
61Colleges in the Southwest Region
25,465Liberal 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.
College Factual looked at 61 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 25,465 degrees in liberal arts annually.
The liberal studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Liberal Arts rankings. 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.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
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 Southwest 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 Southwest 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 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
12 Top Southwest Region Schools in Liberal Studies
The University of Texas at Austin is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts. Located in the city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #46 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were roughly 188 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available.
It is hard to beat University of Oklahoma Norman Campus if you want to pursue a degree in liberal arts. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Norman, University of Oklahoma is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #191 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means University of Oklahoma is a great university overall.
There were roughly 230 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at University of Oklahoma in the most recent data year.
Arizona State University - Tempe is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts. ASU - Tempe is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Tempe. A Best Colleges rank of #108 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were approximately 60 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available.
It is difficult to beat Southern Methodist University if you wish to pursue a degree in liberal arts. Located in the large suburb of Dallas, SMU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #142 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SMU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 44 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at SMU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Flagstaff, NAU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #221 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means NAU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 418 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at NAU in the most recent data year.
UCO is a large public university located in the large suburb of Edmond. This university ranks 8th out of 31 colleges for overall quality in the state of Oklahoma.
There were roughly 4 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UCO in the most recent year we have data available.
Texas Tech is a very large public university located in the large city of Lubbock. A Best Colleges rank of #161 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Texas Tech is a great university overall.
There were approximately 10 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Texas Tech in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Oklahoma City, OCCC is a public college with a fairly large student population. This college ranks 4th out of 31 schools for overall quality in the state of Oklahoma.
There were roughly 33 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at OCCC in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Tucson, Pima County Community College District is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 10th out of 26 colleges for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were approximately 2054 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Pima County Community College District in the most recent data year.
Collin County Community College District is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of McKinney. A Best Colleges rank of #386 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Collin County Community College District is a great college overall.
There were about 1815 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Collin County Community College District in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Scottsdale, ASU - Skysong is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #403 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means ASU - Skysong is a great university overall.
There were about 348 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Skysong in the most recent year we have data available.
OSU is a very large public university located in the distant town of Stillwater. A Best Colleges rank of #366 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means OSU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 59 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at OSU 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 Southwest 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).
The liberal studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Liberal Arts rankings. 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.
