History Degrees in Arkansas

In October 1815 two surveyors walked into the country from different rivers. Prospect Robbins started at the mouth of the Arkansas and went due north. Joseph Brown started at the mouth of the St. Francis and went due west. On November 10 Robbins crossed Brown’s line, and the place where the two tracks met became the point every later survey measured from. Land descriptions in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, and parts of Minnesota and South Dakota still refer back to it. The spot is a headwater swamp in Phillips County, reachable now by a boardwalk, and almost nothing is known about either man. The state those lines eventually defined teaches the subject widely, and takes it as far as a doctorate at only one campus.

Arkansas has 16 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 26 programs among them: 19 bachelor’s degrees, 6 master’s degrees, and 1 doctorate.

That single doctorate is at the University of Arkansas, which is also the only school in the state teaching history at all three levels.

Top History Schools in Arkansas

Sixteen Arkansas schools offer history, so we publish a top five. Our scoring uses the same four factors as every state we cover: history degree offerings and program variety (40%), student outcomes (25%), reputation (20%), and affordability (15%). The University of Arkansas wins this comfortably, scoring 91.3 against 68.8 for the next school, because it is the only R1, the only doctorate, and the largest catalog all at once. Below it the four schools are separated by about eight points and each offers exactly two programs, so the differences are in what those two are. Here are Arkansas’s best history degrees.

Most Affordable History Degrees in Arkansas

Most affordable history degrees in Arkansas

Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	University of Arkansas-Fort Smith	B.A. in History	$7,334
2	Arkansas State University	Bachelor's in History	$8,090
3	Arkansas Tech University	B.A. in History	$8,674
4	University of Arkansas at Monticello	B.A. in History	$9,292
5	University of Arkansas at Little Rock	B.A. in History	$9,748
6	Southern Arkansas University	B.A. in History Education 4+1	$9,960
7	University of Arkansas	Bachelor's in History	$10,104
8	University of Central Arkansas	B.A. in History	$10,523
9	Williams Baptist University	B.A. in History	$21,070
10	Central Baptist College	B.A. or B.S. in History	$21,330

Annual in-state tuition and fees. The eight public universities take the first eight places, and the state’s only doctoral department is among them at $10,104.

History Education in Arkansas

Arkansas is a state where the public sector does the work and one university does most of it. The eight public universities hold 14 of the state’s 24 history programs and take the first eight places on the affordability list, none of them charging above $10,523. The eight private colleges match them in number but carry only 10 programs between them, and the cheapest private option costs roughly double the most expensive public one.

Graduate study concentrates hard. There are 5 master’s degrees and 1 doctorate in the whole state. The doctorate is at the University of Arkansas, which is also the only school teaching at all three levels and the only R1. If you want a history Ph.D. without leaving Arkansas, there is one department, and applying to it is the whole plan.

The applied route is narrower still and worth knowing precisely. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock holds the state’s only public history master’s, which makes it the in-state path into archives, museums, and preservation work. There is one art history degree in Arkansas, a bachelor’s at the University of Arkansas. Beyond those two, the catalog is general history at both levels, so a student wanting a named field will be choosing a supervisor rather than a degree title.

Distance study is thin at 4 online programs, two bachelor’s and two master’s, spread across Arkansas State, Little Rock, and Harding. Our guide to online history degrees covers the wider field.

Transfer is governed by Act 747 of 2011, and the structure rewards finishing instead of accumulating. The state sets a 35-hour minimum general education core covering English and writing, humanities and fine arts, history and the social sciences, mathematics, and the natural sciences. The Associate of Arts is the designated fully transferable degree at 60 semester credit hours, and the law’s stated aim is that a completed transfer degree moves into a bachelor’s program without losing credits and without the receiving university demanding more lower-division general education.

The practical point is where that protection attaches. In Arkansas it attaches to the completed degree, so a student who leaves a two-year college partway through has considerably weaker footing than one who finishes the AA first. Some states protect a partial block of credits; Arkansas protects the degree. Check individual courses in advance through ACTS, the state course transfer system, at the Arkansas Division of Higher Education.

Becoming a History Teacher in Arkansas

Arkansas licenses the subject as Social Studies for grades 7 through 12, so the credential covers geography, civics, and economics alongside history, and a history major should expect to cover ground outside the major.

The content assessment is the Praxis Social Studies: Content Knowledge, test code 5081, with a cut score of 155. That took effect on September 1, 2022, replacing an earlier test.

One practical warning. ETS has been retiring test 5081 in favor of a newer social studies exam across the country, and several states moved to the replacement during 2025. Arkansas’s published memo predates that change, so this is exactly the sort of requirement that may have shifted since it was written. Confirm the current code and score with the Department directly instead of relying on any secondhand list, including this one.

Before committing to the classroom, read the pay figures in the next section alongside the tuition figures above. Arkansas is an inexpensive place to qualify and a below-average place to be paid.

Confirm current requirements with the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education before choosing a program.

History Careers in Arkansas

History Careers in Arkansas

Occupation	Arkansas jobs	Arkansas median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	12,890	$59,660	-17%
Postsecondary history teachers	290	$47,860	-43%
Curators	80	$53,870	-15%
Archivists	40	$58,560	-9%
Historians	not published	not published	n/a

Employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Arkansas’s historian figures were withheld, both the count and the wage.

One number here needs stating plainly, not softened. Postsecondary history teachers in Arkansas earn a median $47,860, which is 43% below the national median and the lowest figure for that occupation in the country. The second-lowest state is 32% below, so Arkansas is eleven points clear of it. This is across 290 positions, which is not a tiny sample. Anyone planning to teach history at college level in Arkansas should treat that as the central fact of the plan.

The rest of the picture is much less dramatic. Archivists are 9% below national on 40 jobs and curators 15% below on 80, which is ordinary for a state of this size and income. Neither is a large market, but neither is an outlier.

Secondary school teaching carries the employment at 12,890 positions, paying 17% under national. That is where nearly everyone using a history degree in Arkansas actually works, and it is the figure to weigh against tuition that tops out at $10,523 in the public system.

The fair summary: the state is genuinely cheap to earn a history degree in, ordinary for museum and archive pay, and the hardest place in the country to be paid as a college history instructor.

History Resources in Arkansas

• Arkansas State Archives, 1 Capitol Mall, Little Rock. Established in 1905 as the Arkansas History Commission, which makes it one of the oldest state agencies still operating, and it holds more than two centuries of records: letters, diaries, maps, photographs, newspapers, and broadsides. Admission and parking are free. Note the hours before traveling, because they are unusual: Monday to Friday, 9 to noon and then 1 to 4, with a closure over the middle of the day, plus the first and third Saturday of each month. The agency also runs regional archives elsewhere in the state.
• Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park, Holly Grove. The initial point described at the top of this page, marked by a granite monument and a National Historic Landmark. An elevated boardwalk carries you out over the headwater swamp to reach it, and interpretive panels along the way cover both the survey and the wetland. Day use, open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Frequently Asked Questions