Liberty University’s Interdisciplinary Degree

Liberty University is a HS4CC favorite because it allows parents to get a really big head start in high school (up to 90 college credits) for super low cost. This post will highlight one of their most flexible options, the Interdisciplinary Studies bachelor’s degree.

What makes Liberty University appealing to HS4CC families?

1. They allow the student to transfer in 75% of a bachelor’s degree from sources outside Liberty. (90 credits out of 120)
2. They accept A LOT of alternative credit types.  (CLEP, Sophia, Studycom, Outlier, TEL, DSST, TECEP, Straighterline, Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment)
3. Liberty offers their own dual enrollment classes (at a huge discount compared to regular tuition)
4. Liberty dual enrollment give you access to college advising
5. Liberty dual enrollment allows you to pursue an associate degree in high school that can nest inside the Interdisciplinary Studies degree.

Couple these advantages and the flexibility in earning college credits with your teen’s interest in more than one area, and you have great opportunity to create a degree that fits your teen’s unique interests for a very low cost by choosing Liberty’s Interdisciplinary Studies Bachelor’s degree.

What is an Interdisciplinary Studies Degree?

You are really designing your own degree here.  This option allows someone to take their specific interests in multiple areas and blend them together to create a degree that fits your specific career goals.  There are 20 areas of study to choose from including Government, Fine Arts, Aviation, and Business.  For example, a student may want to start their own digital arts business.  Picking the areas of Business and Fine Arts would equip this student with skills in both these areas.  Or maybe a student is interested in a career in politics.  The Government and Communications areas have several courses to choose from.  The ability to build a degree that prepares you for your career enables you to present yourself with unique skills that will help you to stand out from the pack.

How does an Interdisciplinary Studies Degree work?

Liberty’s Interdisciplinary Studies Degree allows you to pick 2 or 3 areas of study to fill up the courses in your major.  For instance, you could combine business and communications into one degree or add one more area making that degree business, communication, and computational science.  There are 45 credits that need to be covered between the 2 or 3 areas.  If picking 3 areas then each area would need 15 credits.  If only picking 2, the courses would need to be split between the two areas making sure that an area does not have less then 15 credits in it.

How do I resourcefully plan an Interdisciplinary Studies Degree starting in high school?

This is where it really gets creative.  Each area will allow you to pick ANY course from the approved prefix for that area.  For example, if you choose Business as one area, then you can pick courses with the prefix BUSI, ECON, ACCT, and EMGT.  This really opens up a wider variety of courses from alternative credit that can be transferred in instead of the 17 or so specific courses you must take to satisfy the Bachelor’s degree in Business that Liberty offers.  You just need to make sure that 30 credits do come from Liberty to satisfy the residency requirement and that 30 credits are upper level credits (300 and 400 level courses).  

Liberty has quite a long list of courses accepted from Study.com, and while there won’t be many courses for each area Liberty allows, there are a couple of areas that will have quite a few choices such as Business and Computational Sciences.  Another nice thing about Study.com is that they may offer upper level courses which are hard to find using dual enrollment.  Of course, don’t forget Sophia Learning, Straighterline, CLEP, and DSST to name just a few more that can offer courses or credit by exams to fit in the Interdisciplinary degree at a fraction of the cost of Liberty’s full-time rate. 

A resourcefully planned Interdisciplinary Degree from Liberty can be attained for less than $10,000.  

Shelley Cloutier, HS4CC Liberty Planning Expert

Here is a summary of ways you can choose courses and save a lot of cash:

• Satisfy some of the residency requirement by taking Liberty courses through their lower cost dual enrollment program.
• Take free dual enrollment if your state offers it.
• Find other low-cost dual enrollment courses out of state using HS4CC community knowledge.
• Earn college credit by taking CLEP or DSST exam.
• Earn lower cost ACE credit through Study, Straighterline, or Sophia.

More Information:

https://www.liberty.edu/online/arts-and-sciences/bachelors/interdisciplinary-studies/

Liberty University Residential Interdisciplinary Studies Bachelor’s Degree

Planning Guide

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