History Degrees in Nebraska

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In 1879 a federal court in Nebraska had to answer a question before it could hear a case at all. Standing Bear, a Ponca chief, had been arrested for leaving the Indian Territory to bury his son in the country he came from, and his lawyers filed for habeas corpus. The government’s position was that the writ did not apply, because the statute protected persons. Judge Elmer Dundy held that an Indian is a “person” within the meaning of the habeas corpus act, and ordered the prisoners released. The report sits in the Federal Cases as number 14,891, four paragraphs of headnotes and an opinion, which is what a turning point looks like in the records. Reading records like that one is taught across Nebraska, and taken furthest at a single university.

Nebraska has 15 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 28 programs among them: 19 bachelor’s degrees, 5 master’s degrees, and 4 doctorates.

All four of those doctorates are at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which is also the only school in the state teaching history at every level.

Nebraska at a Glance

Schools offering history	15
History programs	28
Bachelor’s / master’s / doctoral	19 / 5 / 4
Online programs	4
Schools offering all three levels	1
Lowest in-state tuition and fees	$8,216 per year
Largest history catalog	University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 8 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 Nebraska

Fifteen Nebraska schools offer history, so we publish a top three. 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%). Lincoln takes this outright at 90.9, with 8 programs to the next school’s 3 and the only R1 classification in the state. Something worth noticing about the result: all three schools below are University of Nebraska campuses, so the ranking is effectively a tour of one system. Here are Nebraska’s best history degrees.

1 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln holds the state’s entire doctoral offering, and the shape of it is the interesting part. Rather than one general Ph.D., it lists four named doctoral fields: North American West and Borderlands, Nineteenth Century U.S., Transnational History, and Modern World. You apply into a field, not into a department. That forces a decision earlier than most programs do, and it tells you plainly what this one is built to supervise. Beneath that sit a history bachelor’s and master’s plus a Bachelor’s in Art History and Criticism and an M.A. in Art History.

History programs: 8
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $10,434

2 University of Nebraska at Omaha

Omaha’s distinctive piece is an M.A. in History and Government. Very few departments use that combined title. The graduate work here sits deliberately across both fields instead of picking one. It adds a B.A. in Art History and a B.S. in History, and one of its three programs is online. At $8,718 it costs about $1,700 less a year than Lincoln.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: R2, high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $8,718

3 University of Nebraska at Kearney

Kearney holds the only public history master’s in Nebraska, which makes it the state’s route into museum, archives, and historic preservation work at graduate level. It runs a general history master’s alongside it and a history bachelor’s, and two of its three programs are online, so it is also the state’s main distance option. At $8,676 it is the cheapest school in this ranking and completes 58% of students in four years, better than Omaha’s 47%.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, larger programs
In-state tuition and fees: $8,676

Most Affordable History Degrees in Nebraska

Most affordable history degrees in Nebraska
Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	Wayne State College	Bachelor's in History	$8,216
2	Chadron State College	B.S. in Education	$8,290
3	Peru State College	Bachelor's in History	$8,640
4	University of Nebraska at Kearney	Bachelor's in History	$8,676
5	University of Nebraska at Omaha	B.S. in History	$8,718
6	Bellevue University	Bachelor's in History	$9,903
7	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Bachelor's in History	$10,434
8	York University	Bachelor's in History	$23,000
9	Union Adventist University	B.A. in History	$29,334
10	Hastings College	Bachelor's in History	$37,770

Annual in-state tuition and fees. Note the sixth entry: Bellevue University is private and still undercuts the state flagship, which is not how this list usually runs.

History Education in Nebraska

Two things define studying history in Nebraska: the graduate work is concentrated at one university, and that university has been unusually specific about what it does.

All 4 of the state’s history doctorates are at Lincoln, which is also the only school teaching at all three levels and the only R1. But it does not offer a general history Ph.D. It offers four named fields: North American West and Borderlands, Nineteenth Century U.S., Transnational History, and Modern World. That is a department telling applicants exactly where its supervision is, and it is more useful information than a single unlabeled doctorate would be. Nebraska is not alone in naming doctoral fields, but doing it in a state with 28 total history programs is notable.

Below the doctorate the graduate offering is small and well divided. Kearney holds the state’s only public history master’s, so the applied route runs through one department. Omaha’s M.A. in History and Government is a combined credential you will rarely see elsewhere. There are 5 master’s degrees in the state and each of the three university campuses contributes something different.

Art history is a genuine secondary strand instead of an afterthought, with 4 of the state’s 28 programs carrying the designation, including a Bachelor’s in Art History and Criticism and an M.A. in Art History at Lincoln and a B.A. in Art History at Omaha.

On price, the public sector is tightly grouped and one private college breaks the usual pattern. The five cheapest schools all charge between $8,216 and $8,718, a spread of about $500, and Bellevue University, a private nonprofit at $9,903, undercuts the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at $10,434. On most state pages every public option is cheaper than every private one, so Nebraska is worth a second look if cost is the deciding factor. Above that the private colleges climb quickly to $23,000, $29,334, and $37,770.

Distance study is modest at 4 online programs, two bachelor’s and two master’s, with Kearney running two of them. Our guide to online history degrees covers the wider field.

Transfer is organized around checking instead of guessing. Transfer Nebraska, created in 2014 as a partnership between all of the state’s public institutions and since extended to private ones, runs a Course Transfer Check that tells you which specific courses move between any two named schools, along with catalogs by year. All four University of Nebraska campuses take part. The tool is genuinely useful, but it works at the level of individual courses, so confirm how a completed block of general education will be treated with the university you intend to finish at rather than assuming it arrives intact. Start at Transfer Nebraska.

Becoming a History Teacher in Nebraska

Nebraska does something most states do not: it certifies History as its own endorsement, tested on its own exam. On nearly every other page on this site the credential is Social Studies, covering geography, economics, and government alongside history, and a history degree covers only a portion of it. Nebraska gives history majors a credential that matches the major.

History endorsement. Required test: Praxis 5941, World and US History: Content Knowledge, passing score 147.
Social Studies endorsement, if you want the broader credential: Praxis 5581, Social Studies: Content Knowledge, passing score 154. The older 5081 was accepted through August 2025.
Middle Level Social Science, for grades in the middle band: Praxis 5089, Middle School: Social Studies, passing score 155.

Sociology gets its own endorsement too. The whole structure is subject-specific, not bundled.

Since September 1, 2015, every candidate has had to show the required content test score before an endorsement is placed on a Nebraska certificate for the first time, so the exam is not something to leave until after graduation.

The practical advice is straightforward. If you intend to teach in Nebraska and only in Nebraska, the History endorsement is the efficient route and your degree is doing the work. If you might move, look at what the broader Social Studies endorsement requires as well, because most other states will ask for that shape instead.

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

History Careers in Nebraska

History Careers in Nebraska
Occupation	Nebraska jobs	Nebraska median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	7,170	$63,450	-12%
Postsecondary history teachers	190	$57,150	-32%
Curators	120	$58,600	-8%
Historians	30	$70,050	-9%
Archivists	not published	not published	n/a

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

Three of these four rows are within about ten points of the national median, and one is a long way from it.

Postsecondary history teaching pays $57,150 in Nebraska, 32% below the national median, the second-lowest figure for that occupation of any state in the country. Only Arkansas is lower. That sits awkwardly beside the fact that Lincoln runs four doctoral fields, because those programs train people for exactly this work, and the state that trains them pays among the least for it. Anyone planning a Nebraska Ph.D. should be planning on a national job search.

The other three are ordinary. Curators are 8% below national across 120 positions, which is a decent number of museum jobs for the population. Historians are 9% below on 30 positions, a small market paying close to the going rate. Secondary school teaching, where the employment actually is, pays 12% below national across 7,170 posts.

Set against public tuition that runs from $8,216 to $10,434, Nebraska is inexpensive to study in and moderately below average to be paid in, with one occupation well outside that summary.

History Resources in Nebraska

History Nebraska Library and Archives, the James E. Potter Research Room, 1500 R Street in Lincoln, on the University of Nebraska campus. It puts two collections in one room: the Nebraska History Library, holding books, maps, and newspapers, and the State Archives, holding unpublished manuscripts, photographs, film and audio, and government records. Admission is free. Published hours are Wednesday to Friday, 9 to 4, and some listings show an additional appointment-only day, so confirm before traveling any distance.
Federal Cases, number 14,891. The Standing Bear report described at the top of this page is a public record and is available in full text online. For a student who has never read a nineteenth-century law report, it is a short and unusually readable place to start, and the headnotes lay out the holdings before the opinion begins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where Can You Study History in Nebraska?

Nebraska has 28 history programs at 15 colleges and universities. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has by far the largest catalog at 8 programs, with Omaha and Kearney at 3 each. Lincoln is the only school in the state teaching the subject at all three levels.

Can You Get a History Doctorate in Nebraska?

Yes, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which holds all four of the state’s history doctorates. They are named fields instead of a single general Ph.D.: North American West and Borderlands, Nineteenth Century U.S., Transnational History, and Modern World, so you apply into a specific area of the department.

What Is the Cheapest History Degree in Nebraska?

Wayne State College at $8,216 a year, with Chadron State and Peru State close behind. One thing worth noting: Bellevue University is private and charges $9,903, which is less than the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at $10,434, so the usual assumption that public is always cheaper does not hold here.

How Do You Become a History Teacher in Nebraska?

Unusually for this country, you can be endorsed in History itself rather than in Social Studies. The required test is Praxis 5941, World and US History: Content Knowledge, with a passing score of 147. If you want the broader Social Studies endorsement instead, that takes Praxis 5581 at 154. Confirm current requirements with the Nebraska Department of Education.

What Do History Careers Pay in Nebraska?

Mostly a little below national, with one clear exception. Curators are 8% below the national median, historians 9% below, and secondary school teaching 12% below across 7,170 positions. College history teaching is the outlier at 32% below national, the second-lowest figure of any state in the country.