Who Receives a Liberal Education? Measuring Breadth and Depth of Study at U.S. Colleges

Arguments crediting liberal education with preparing college students for life, work, and citizenship are plentiful. However, questions remain about the extent to which diverse students in the U.S. receive a liberal education. We examine the degree to which students from various majors and demographic groups receive a liberal education by quantifying the breadth and depth of their course-taking. We find that students’ majors are a substantial driver of differences in exposure to liberal education, but demographics are not. Although one might expect liberal arts majors to have the greatest exposure to curricular breadth, that is not necessarily the case. These findings lay the foundation for research examining the long-term consequences of liberal education on a range of outcomes.