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Online Associate Degree AA in Liberal Arts

Broaden Your Knowledge and Skill Set with an Online Liberal Arts Degree

Strengthen your communication and critical-thinking skills by earning an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Southern New Hampshire University. If you’re seeking entry-level employment in business, social services, administration or retail, this online liberal arts degree can put you in a position to excel and move up in your career. It can also be a meaningful milestone on your journey toward a bachelor’s degree or a springboard into the working world.

The AA in Liberal Arts curriculum and experienced faculty will inspire you to explore a range of subject areas as you broaden your understanding of the world. During this process, you’ll learn to analyze issues, formulate reasoned conclusions and effectively communicate your analysis – valued skills in the classroom and at work.

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See Yourself Succeed in Liberal Arts

As a standalone degree or a foundation for a more advanced degree, an associate degree in liberal arts from SNHU provides a significant educational experience that enhances your knowledge, skills, insight and creativity. These important program outcomes will serve you well throughout your studies and your career. Your online liberal arts degree will provide you with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that you can continue to build on throughout life.

As a private, nonprofit university, SNHU has one mission – to help you see yourself succeed. The benefits of earning your associate degree online at SNHU include:

  • Affordability. Take advantage of some of the most affordable tuition rates in the nation
  • Convenience. Attend class when it’s convenient for you – online education means 24/7 access
  • Efficiency and flexibility. Complete your undergraduate degree at your own pace, over six 8-week terms per year
  • Expert instruction. Learn from instructors with relevant, real-world experience
  • Networking. Tap into our nationwide network of alumni for internship and career opportunities
  • Simple application process. Just fill out an online undergraduate application, and we’ll retrieve U.S. transcripts from your previous institutions and automatically complete an official credit evaluation. Plus, there’s no application fee
  • Student support. Count on the ongoing support of dedicated academic and career advisors specialized in your area of study
  • Transfer-friendly enrollment. Transfer up to 45 credits toward an associate degree

Career Outlook

Earning an associate degree can make a significant financial impact on your life. In 2016, individuals with associate degrees earned 23% percent more after taxes than those with only a high school education.* Earning your online liberal arts degree will prepare you for entry-level positions in a variety of roles and industries. It’s also the first step toward completing a bachelor’s degree and pursuing management-level positions.

Message from Director of Liberal Arts Department

An Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts launches a lifetime of learning. The degree allows students to explore and find their direction while giving a solid preparation for continuing in a four-year program or moving into a new career.  By questioning, making connections and integrating knowledge, students develop the professional skills so essential for success.

A core of seven courses provides the writing, computational and technical skills that would serve a student in any field.  The core courses also include a serious introduction into the arts and culture that helps everyone begin to understand their place in the world.

The remaining eight courses in the 20-course program encourage a student’s exploration of many possibilities for majors in the arts and sciences.  At the same time, the courses broaden their knowledge in areas that attract them.

Through small classes and personal attention, the SNHU Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts provides an individualized higher educational experience that stimulates personal innovation and creativity – two elements that form the best recommendation for today’s workplace.

Curriculum

The online AA in Liberal Arts program will help you develop essential writing, computer and technical skills. You can tailor your program to your interests with seven elective courses, including five free electives and two liberal arts electives.

Program Outcomes

Major Courses
SNHU 107 Success Strategies for Online Learning

This course focuses on student success strategies for students who are new to higher education or online learning. Skill areas include critical thinking, self-advocacy and support services, and the empowerment of students to utilize their strengths in order to improve the likelihood of academic success.
IDS 100 Perspectives in Liberal Arts

Explore the four general education lenses of academic inquiry: Humanities, History, Social Science, and Natural Science. Apply these lenses as a framework for understanding relevant topics, distinguish opinion from research, and communicate ideas clearly. Develop an awareness for different points of view and how they impact the development of a well-educated individual.
ENG 122 English Composition I

English 122 is a college-level writing course that introduces students to the various forms of academic discourse. This course focuses primarily on the basic elements of college composition and writing as a process in both narrative and analytical forms. Students will investigate the importance and promise of effective written communication in various personal and professional contexts and identify effective strategies through critical analysis of written works as well as their own writing. Finally, this course prepares students for more advanced research analysis by connecting students to important avenues of research.
ENG 123 English Composition II

English 123 focuses students on the importance of research to advancing knowledge for various purposes. This course will build on the foundations of composition and introduce students to the research process and the analysis and evaluation of various sources. Students will investigate the writing process for research as well as appropriate research methods and skills. Additionally, this course offers multiple opportunities to engage in the important tasks of revision and editing and will ask students to incorporate feedback to improve their writing.
COM 212 Public Speaking

This course is designed to help students develop abilities, including organization and delivery skills, for all speaking situations. The evaluation and improvement of voice, diction, articulation and posture also are studied. May not be used as literature elective.

FAS 202 Introduction to Humanities II

This course offers vocabulary, understanding and appreciation of the visual arts in their cultural contexts in history, religion, literature, music and ideas. It focuses on the cultural periods of the Baroque, the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Early Modernism while also exploring related issues in non-European cultures. May be taken independently of FAS-201.
SCS 100 Perspectives in the Social Sciences

How do social scientists examine issues impacting human behavior? This course will focus on the questions social scientists ask in their research of individuals, families, and larger society, as well as how social scientific inquiry has developed over time. This exploration of social science will focus on the ways in which researchers consider behavioral phenomenon and use research to study various concepts. Students will examine the relevance of social science to current issues, develop evidence-based questions about human behavior, and explore basic social scientific research approaches.
SCS 200 Applied Social Sciences

Social scientists consider a number of factors when deciding to invest time and resources into investigating a problem. Students engage in inquiry based learning by selecting a current issue and exploring it from the perspective of social scientists (psychologist, sociologist, anthropologist etc.). Students use a systematic approach to engage in an evidence-informed investigation pertaining to a current issue.
HUM 100 Perspectives in the Humanities

Art, literature, and philosophy tell lasting stories. Beyond the intended purpose of the artists and authors, or the shifting interpretations of the audiences, these creations tell us about cultural development, changes in worldview, and common themes that span centuries and continents. How have you come to understand the world? How do you express that understanding through the act of creating? This course investigates the purpose of art, literature, and philosophy across different periods, how its themes represent the cultures that produced it, and how that art still serves society today.
HUM 200 Applied Humanities

What is the purpose of art, literature, and philosophy? Is it enough to create simply for the act of creating, or should a work serve as a deliberate commentary, be it political, social, personal, or derivative of other motivations? In this course, students have the opportunity to select works, collections, or periods within the humanities for research and study. The study is guided by both subjective and objective analyses to differentiate between an artist's or author's intended meaning and a society's interpretation of that meaning.
SCI 100 Perspectives in the Natural Sciences

This introductory course serves as an entry point into the natural sciences which concentrates on the natural world that both surrounds us and includes us. Students explore the big ideas in natural science as well as the methods that the field employs to solve problems. The course emphasizes and explores empirical modes of study as a way of looking at the world and aims to foster science literate citizens.
SCI 200 Applied Natural Sciences

This applied course actively involves students in the process of science and builds upon foundational natural science concepts in introductory survey courses. Students have the opportunity to engage in inquiry based learning which utilizes natural science methodologies and apply these toward problem solving skills in contemporary topics.
HIS 100 Perspectives in History

More than just dates, names, and places, history is the study of the human condition. It seeks to understand human behavior through the thoughtful examination of different types of historical sources. The study of history is a living subject, always changing as new discoveries and interpretations are presented. This course examines the process of investigating and writing about history through analysis of sources and the presentation of this analysis as an argument. Through this exploration of historical investigation, students will develop a holistic perspective on the contemporary relevance of history and their responsibility to participate and engage in such discourse.
HIS 200 Applied History

The application of history in our daily lives is not always apparent. However, studying the past is imperative for informing our understanding of society today. Armed with this informed understanding, we are transformed into effective citizens and public agents. In this course, students will explore how history has shaped the role of the citizen in America. Ultimately, historical perspectives will be utilized to understand a topic relevant to American society today.

Select one of the following:
MAT 125 Quantitative Reasoning & Problem Solving

This course focuses on the development of sound quantitative reasoning and problem solving skills, as applied to everyday situations. While this course will have computational elements, the focus is to be placed on conceptual understanding and creative problem solving through relevant applications. Problem solving strategies, inductive/deductive reasoning, analysis of quantitative information and arguments, and communication are the enduring threads.

MAT 130 Applied Finite Mathematics

This course is designed to prepare students for other courses in the core curriculum and in their majors and to provide a basis for making decisions in life after graduation. Topics include mathematics of finance, probability and counting, descriptive statistics and basic linear regression. (Students who have successfully completed MAT 120 or MAT 150 may not register for MAT 130).
MAT 135 The Heart of Mathematics

The Heart of Mathematics considers the history, mathematical beauty, and real world applications of a wide variety of topics. This discussion-based course encourages "out-of-the-box" thinking to explore the connections between mathematics and the world around us. Topics may include: patterns in nature, infinity, topology, geometry, networking, fractals, and chaos theory, among others.
MAT 136 Introduction to Quantitative Analysis

Explore the mathematical concepts necessary for success in Precalculus. Learn about simplification of algebraic expressions, techniques for solving equations and functions, graphical and numerical summaries of data, and their real world applications. Gain quantitative analysis skills in systems of linear equations, properties of functions and expressions, polynomials, and their representations.
MAT 240 Applied Statistics

This is a fundamental course in the application of statistics. In this course, students will learn to apply statistical techniques to a variety of applications in business and the social sciences. Students will learn how to solve statistical problems by hand and through the use of computer software. Topics include probability distribution functions, sampling distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing and linear regression.

Free Elective Credits: 15

Total Credits: 60

Tuition & Fees

Tuition rates for SNHU's online degree programs are among the lowest in the nation. We offer financial aid packages to those who qualify, plus a 30 percent tuition discount for U.S. service members, both full and part time, and the spouses of those on active duty.

Online Undergraduate Programs Per Course* Per Credit Hour*
Degree/Certificates $960 $320
Degree/Certificates
(U.S. service members, both full and part time, and the spouses of those on active duty) 		$675 $225

*Tuition Rates are subject to change and are reviewed annually.

Additional Costs
No Application Fee, $150 Graduation Fee, Course Materials ($ varies by course)

University Accreditation

Southern New Hampshire University is a private, nonprofit institution accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges as well as several other accrediting bodies. More...

*U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance in the United States, 2015, Table PINC-03; and Internal Revenue Service, 2014; as reported by Education Pays 2016, The College Board, on the Internet, at https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/education-pays-2016-full-report.pdf (viewed online December 15, 2017).