History Degrees in Virginia

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Two things happened in Virginia in 1619. The House of Burgesses met at Jamestown, in the choir of the town church, as the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. And in late August, roughly twenty Africans were landed at Point Comfort and traded to the colonial governor and a merchant, the documented beginning of chattel slavery in English North America. Representative government and human property arrived in the same colony in the same year, and the assembly that met that summer did not represent the people who came ashore that August. Virginia is where a lot of American history has to be argued out rather than simply recounted. The state supports that argument at a scale few can match, and in one format nobody else offers.

Virginia has 37 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 84 programs among them: 64 bachelor’s degrees, 14 master’s degrees, and 6 doctorates.

One of those doctorates is delivered online, and it is the only online history Ph.D. anywhere in our national directory.

Virginia at a Glance

Schools offering history	37
History programs	84
Bachelor’s / master’s / doctoral	64 / 14 / 6
Online programs	10
Schools offering all three levels	4
Lowest in-state tuition and fees	$10,043 per year
Largest history catalog	George Mason University, 13 programs

Program counts come from our directory. Tuition figures are annual in-state tuition and fees from the U.S. Department of Education, and exclude room and board.

Top History Schools in Virginia

We scored all 37 Virginia schools on the four factors we use in every state: history degree offerings and program variety (40%), student outcomes (25%), reputation (20%), and affordability (15%). Depth is a rout, with George Mason at 14 programs against VCU’s 7. Outcomes belong to the University of Virginia at 96% and William & Mary at 89% completing in four years. Reputation rests on five R1 universities. Affordability barely separates anyone, because seven of these eight schools are public and priced between $12,750 and $25,914. Here are Virginia’s best history degrees.

1 George Mason University

George Mason has 14 history programs, which is the third-largest catalog at any single university in the country, and it charges $14,220 in state. Eight of those are named bachelor’s routes, including tracks in digital history and law and history that almost nobody else offers as undergraduate degrees. On top sit three master’s, one with an applied history concentration, and three separately named doctorates in U.S., European, and comparative world history. Nothing else in the country delivers this much range at a public price.

History programs: 14
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $14,220

2 University of Virginia-Main Campus

UVA runs three programs and no specialties at all, a history bachelor’s, M.A., and Ph.D., and completes 96% of its students in four years, the best rate in the state. It is the most conventional research department in Virginia and the most selective, and at $21,803 it is also among the more expensive public options.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $21,803

3 William & Mary

William & Mary offers the same three-level structure at $25,914, the highest in-state price in this ranking, with an 89% four-year completion rate. Its position in Williamsburg puts students beside the largest concentration of restored colonial material in the country, which matters more for this subject than for most.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R2, high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $25,914

4 Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU has the second-deepest catalog in the state at 7 programs, and the weight sits on the art history side: three separate art history master’s, one of them in museum studies and one in historical studies. It also offers a public history concentration inside its history bachelor’s. The department stops at the master’s, which is what keeps it fourth.

History programs: 7
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $16,945

5 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Virginia Tech keeps two programs, a history bachelor’s and an M.A., and completes 86% of its students in four years, second only to UVA and William & Mary among the schools here. It is the leanest catalog in this ranking and the strongest completion record attached to one.

History programs: 2
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $15,948

6 James Madison University

James Madison builds applied work into the undergraduate degree instead of saving it for graduate study, offering a public history concentration inside the history bachelor’s and an art history bachelor’s with a museum studies concentration. At $14,250 with an 80% completion rate, it is the value pick for a student who already knows they want museum or heritage work.

History programs: 4
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: R2, high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $14,250

7 Liberty University

Liberty is the only private university in this ranking and the reason Virginia is unusual nationally. It runs three of its four history programs online, including a Master’s in Public History and, most significantly, an online Ph.D. in History that is the only online history doctorate in our directory. For a working professional who wants a research doctorate without relocating, there is currently nowhere else to go.

History programs: 4
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: Doctoral/professional university
In-state tuition and fees: $22,465

8 Old Dominion University

Old Dominion is the cheapest school in this ranking at $12,750 and runs two of Virginia’s online programs, an online bachelor’s and an online master’s in history. Alongside those it offers an art history bachelor’s. It is the most affordable route in the state to a history master’s.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $12,750

Seven of these eight are public universities, and five hold R1 research classification.

Most Affordable History Degrees in Virginia

Most affordable history degrees in Virginia
Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	Virginia State University	B.A. in History	$10,043
2	Norfolk State University	B.A. in History	$10,180
3	University of Virginia's College at Wise	Bachelor's in History	$11,780
4	Radford University	Bachelor's in History	$12,548
5	Old Dominion University	B.A. in History	$12,750
6	George Mason University	B.A. in History	$14,220
7	James Madison University	Bachelor's in History	$14,250
8	University of Mary Washington	Bachelor's in History	$14,640
9	Longwood University	B.A. in History	$15,744
10	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Bachelor's in History	$15,948

Annual in-state tuition and fees. All ten are public, running from $10,043 to $15,948. George Mason appears here as well as at the top of our ranking, which is the single most useful thing on this page for a Virginia resident.

History Education in Virginia

Virginia does something few states manage: it puts one of the deepest history departments in the country at a public price. George Mason’s 14 programs are the third-largest catalog at any single university anywhere, level with UNC Chapel Hill and Penn, and it charges $14,220 in state. That single fact reshapes the whole calculation for a Virginia student.

Beyond Mason the state is undergraduate-weighted. 64 of Virginia’s 84 programs are bachelor’s degrees, there are only 6 doctorates in the entire state, and only four schools teach the subject at all three levels. Public institutions carry more of the field than private ones, 15 schools with 51 programs against 22 privates with 33, which is the reverse of Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Online study is where Virginia leads the country outright. Ten of its programs are online, and one of them is Liberty University’s Ph.D. in History, the only online history doctorate in our national directory. Old Dominion adds an online bachelor’s and master’s, Norfolk State runs an online history degree with a teacher licensure endorsement, and Regent and Mary Baldwin add more. A distance student anywhere in the country has reason to look at Virginia specifically.

Applied history is well represented at undergraduate level instead of being reserved for graduate school. George Mason offers a standalone B.A. in Public History and a public history track inside its general history degree, James Madison runs both a public history concentration and an art history degree with a museum studies concentration, and VCU offers a public history concentration plus an art history master’s in museum studies.

Transfer runs through two stacked programs. The Passport Program is 15 credit hours, about a semester, and the Uniform Certificate of General Studies is 30 credit hours, about a year. Every course in either transfers and satisfies a lower-division general education requirement at any Virginia public institution. One caution: neither program guarantees you admission anywhere. They protect credit, not a place, and guaranteed admission runs through separate agreements. Details are at Transfer Virginia.

Becoming a History Teacher in Virginia

Virginia endorses teachers in History and Social Sciences, so the credential covers geography, government, and economics alongside the historical content.

Virginia also carries a requirement written into state law that no other state we have examined has. Under § 22.1-298.1 of the Code of Virginia, every person seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license with a history and social sciences endorsement must complete instruction in African American history, as prescribed by the Board of Education. It applies for the life of a teaching career rather than once at the start.

The testing sequence has a quirk worth planning around. Virginia requires the relevant Praxis II Subject Assessment, and the passing score must be in hand before you register for the student teaching semester, not before you apply for the license. Sit the test a term earlier than you might expect.

Norfolk State runs a history bachelor’s built around the teacher licensure endorsement, and it is available online, which is an unusual combination.

Confirm current requirements with the Virginia Department of Education before choosing a program.

History Careers in Virginia

History Careers in Virginia
Occupation	Virginia jobs	Virginia median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	31,100	$72,170	+0.2%
Postsecondary history teachers	760	$85,910	+2%
Curators	450	$58,200	-8%
Historians	180	$101,920	+33%
Archivists	not published	not published	n/a

Employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Both the employment count and the wage for archivists were withheld for Virginia.

Virginia sits almost exactly at the national median for teaching and pays a large premium for one specific role. Secondary school teachers are within a fraction of a percent of the national figure and postsecondary history teachers 2% above it. Curators run 8% below.

Historians are the outlier at $101,920, 33% above the national median across 180 positions. That is the fourth-largest count of historian jobs in the country, behind only Washington DC, California, and just ahead of Texas, and the explanation is geographic. Northern Virginia sits inside the federal contracting market, and a large share of professional historian work in this country is government or government-adjacent: agency historians, museum and archive contractors, cultural resource management for federal projects. A Virginia history graduate has better access to that market than a graduate almost anywhere else.

The trade-off is that the classroom, which carries 31,100 of the state’s positions, pays no premium at all here.

History Resources in Virginia

Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Richmond. Founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical Society and renamed in 2018, it is the oldest museum and cultural organization in the state and among the oldest history organizations in the country. It is open daily.
Library of Virginia, Richmond. The Commonwealth’s library agency and its official archival agency, holding state government records alongside a research collection. The Archives Research Room is open Tuesday through Friday and on selected Saturdays, so check the schedule before traveling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where Can You Study History in Virginia?

Virginia has 84 history programs at 37 colleges and universities. George Mason has by far the largest catalog at 14 programs, with VCU at 7. Only four schools teach the subject at every level: George Mason, the University of Virginia, William & Mary, and Liberty.

Which Virginia University Has the Best History Program?

George Mason ranks first in our scoring and it is not close. Its 14 programs make it the third-deepest history department at any single university in the country, and at $14,220 in state it costs a fraction of what the private universities it sits alongside nationally charge. UVA is second on the strength of a 96% completion rate.

Can You Get a History Ph.D. Online?

In Virginia, yes. Liberty University’s online Ph.D. in History is the only online history doctorate in our directory, across all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Liberty also offers an online bachelor’s and an online master’s, and Old Dominion runs an online bachelor’s and master’s of its own.

What Is the Cheapest History Degree in Virginia?

Virginia State University at $10,043 a year, followed by Norfolk State at $10,180. All ten of the most affordable schools in the state are public and fall between $10,043 and $15,948. George Mason appears on that list at $14,220 while also topping our ranking, which makes it unusually good value.

How Do You Become a History Teacher in Virginia?

You need a History and Social Sciences endorsement. Virginia requires the relevant Praxis II Subject Assessment, and you must pass it before registering for student teaching, not afterwards. State law also requires everyone holding this endorsement to complete instruction in African American history, at renewal as well as at initial licensure. Current requirements are with the Virginia Department of Education.