2025 Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Plains States Region
96Colleges in the Plains States Region
25,553Liberal 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 reviewed 96 schools in the Plains States Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of liberal arts. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 25,553 degrees in liberal arts annually.
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 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
19 Top Plains States Region Schools in Liberal Studies
University of Iowa is a wonderful option for students interested in a degree in liberal arts. Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #80 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa is a great university overall.
There were approximately 183 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Kansas is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in liberal arts. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #192 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means KU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 96 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at KU in the most recent data year.
Bismarck State College is a good choice for students interested in a degree in liberal arts. Located in the city of Bismarck, BSC is a public college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #231 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means BSC is a great college overall.
There were approximately 329 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at BSC in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Northern Iowa is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in liberal arts. UNI is a medium-sized public university located in the city of Cedar Falls. A Best Colleges rank of #270 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.
There were roughly 53 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent data year.
JCCC is a fairly large public college located in the medium-sized city of Overland Park. A Best Colleges rank of #347 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means JCCC is a great college overall.
There were approximately 1165 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at JCCC in the most recent data year.
DMACC is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Ankeny. A Best Colleges rank of #408 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means DMACC is a great college overall.
There were about 906 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at DMACC in the most recent year we have data available.
Central Lakes College is a small public college located in the remote town of Brainerd. A Best Colleges rank of #402 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Central Lakes College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 301 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Central Lakes College in the most recent data year.
Located in the town of Fort Dodge, Iowa Central Community College is a public college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #498 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa Central Community College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 402 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa Central Community College in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the midsize city of Columbia, Columbia College Missouri is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #634 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia College Missouri is a great college overall.
There were about 69 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia College Missouri in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Bloomington, Normandale Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #526 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Normandale Community College is a great college overall.
There were approximately 883 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Normandale Community College in the most recent data year.
St Cloud Technical and Community College is a small public college located in the city of Saint Cloud. This college ranks 24th out of 52 colleges for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were about 335 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at St Cloud Technical and Community College in the most recent year we have data available.
Century College is a medium-sized public college located in the large suburb of White Bear Lake. A Best Colleges rank of #486 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Century College is a great college overall.
There were about 434 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Century College in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Omaha, MCC is a public college with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #615 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means MCC is a great college overall.
There were approximately 320 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at MCC in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Inver Grove Heights, IHCC is a public college with a small student population. This college ranks 31st out of 52 colleges for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were about 255 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at IHCC in the most recent data year.
Located in the suburb of Coon Rapids, Anoka-Ramsey Community College-Coon Rapids Campus is a public college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 29th out of 52 colleges for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were approximately 648 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.
MCC is a fairly large public college located in the city of Kansas City. This college ranks 15th out of 48 schools for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were about 2499 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at MCC in the most recent data year.
Hesston is a small private not-for-profit college located in the rural area of Hesston. This college ranks 8th out of 44 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kansas.
There were about 58 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Hesston in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of Cottleville, SCC is a public college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 17th out of 48 schools for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were roughly 530 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at SCC in the most recent data year.
Iowa Western Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Council Bluffs. This college ranks 17th out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 314 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa Western Community College in the most recent year we have data available.
Rest of the Top Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Plains States Region
Honorable Mentions
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).
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.
