History Degrees in South Carolina

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South Carolina left the Union first, on December 20, 1860, and the war that followed opened in Charleston Harbor at 4:30 in the morning on April 12, 1861, when Confederate guns fired on Fort Sumter. Few states put a student closer to the documents and the ground where American history turned.

South Carolina has 25 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 45 programs among them: 33 bachelor’s degrees, 10 master’s degrees, and 2 doctorates.

Only two schools carry history all the way through the doctorate, Clemson University and the University of South Carolina at Columbia, and they are separated by roughly one point in our scoring.

South Carolina at a Glance

Schools offering history	25
History programs	45
Bachelor’s / master’s / doctoral	33 / 10 / 2
Online programs	5
Schools offering all three levels	2
Lowest in-state tuition and fees	$10,730 per year
Largest history catalogs	Clemson and USC Columbia, 6 programs each

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 South Carolina

As with every state we cover, we scored all 25 South Carolina schools on four factors: history degree offerings and program variety (40%), student outcomes (25%), reputation (20%), and affordability (15%). Clemson and the University of South Carolina tie for the deepest catalogs at six history programs apiece, while The Citadel posts the lowest in-state tuition of any school that made the list. Here are South Carolina’s best history degrees.

1 Clemson University

Clemson runs the most unusual doctorate in the state, a Ph.D. in Digital History instead of a conventional history Ph.D., which points the degree at computational methods, digital archives, and public-facing projects. Its undergraduate art history degree splits into tracks in legal history and in historical perspectives on global security, and a separate bachelor’s pairs history with geography under a public history emphasis.

History programs: 6
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $15,554

2 University of South Carolina Columbia

USC Columbia is the state’s conventional research department, with parallel degrees in history and art history at both the bachelor’s and master’s level, a dedicated master’s in public history, and a traditional history Ph.D. Its 79% four-year completion rate comes at $12,688 in state against Clemson’s $15,554.

History programs: 6
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $12,688

3 The Citadel

The Citadel is where South Carolina’s online history study actually lives. All three of its history programs run online, including a master’s in military history and a master’s in applied history, and it is the only school in the state offering either. As a military college it is also the natural home for the military history specialization.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, larger programs
In-state tuition and fees: $12,570

4 Winthrop University

Winthrop’s bachelor’s in art history and museum professions is built for people heading into collections work, not graduate school, which is a narrower and more practical target than most undergraduate history degrees aim at. A general history bachelor’s and a master’s in history sit alongside it.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, larger programs
In-state tuition and fees: $14,678

5 College of Charleston

The College of Charleston keeps a compact bachelor’s and master’s in history, and its location does a lot of the work. The South Carolina Historical Society’s research archive sits on the third floor of the college’s own Addlestone Library, which puts three centuries of state records inside the campus footprint.

History programs: 2
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, medium programs
In-state tuition and fees: $12,978

Clemson and USC Columbia are South Carolina’s two R1 research universities, and they hold the state’s only history doctorates.

Most Affordable History Degrees in South Carolina

Most affordable history degrees in South Carolina
Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	University of South Carolina Beaufort	B.A. in History	$10,730
2	University of South Carolina Aiken	B.A. in History	$10,760
3	South Carolina State University	Bachelor's in History	$11,060
4	Francis Marion University	Bachelor's in History	$11,160
5	University of South Carolina Upstate	B.A. in History	$11,588
6	Coastal Carolina University	B.A. in History	$11,640
7	Lander University	Bachelor's in History	$11,700
8	The Citadel	B.A. in History	$12,570

Annual in-state tuition and fees. Every school in this list is public, and every one below The Citadel offers history only at the bachelor’s level.

History Education in South Carolina

The public and private split here is unusually even in schools and lopsided in programs. Thirteen private nonprofit colleges offer 16 history programs between them, while 12 public institutions offer 29. The publics are where the graduate work is, and both doctorates sit inside that group.

The University of South Carolina name covers more of the state than the Columbia campus alone. Beaufort, Aiken, and Upstate all offer history at the bachelor’s level, at $10,730, $10,760, and $11,588 respectively. Those three are the cheapest route into the subject anywhere in South Carolina.

Transfer between public institutions runs on a list rather than a block. The Statewide Articulation Agreement, approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education in 1995, names 86 specific courses that transfer from any public two-year institution to any public four-year institution in the state. That is a different mechanism from the all-or-nothing general education blocks other states use, and it means checking your individual courses against the list instead of assuming a completed associate degree carries over whole. SC TRAC is the state’s transfer portal.

Online study is thin but concentrated. Our directory finds 5 online history programs in South Carolina, and 3 of them are at The Citadel. Our guide to online history degrees covers the national picture.

Becoming a History Teacher in South Carolina

South Carolina certifies secondary teachers by content area for grades 9 through 12, and history falls under social studies.

The traditional route requires a bachelor’s degree with a major of at least 30 semester hours in the content area, plus a completed state-approved teacher preparation program. Two exams follow: the Praxis II Principles of Learning and Teaching for grades 7 through 12, which covers pedagogy, and the Praxis II content assessment for your subject.

Passing those earns an Initial Certificate. Moving up to the Professional Certificate requires completing the state’s ADEPT summative evaluation while teaching in a South Carolina public school, so the final step happens on the job rather than in a classroom.

Exam codes and passing scores change, so confirm the current requirements with the South Carolina Department of Education before committing to a program.

History Careers in South Carolina

History Careers in South Carolina
Occupation	South Carolina jobs	South Carolina median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	16,080	$62,580	-13%
Postsecondary history teachers	280	$73,670	-12%
Curators	120	$47,200	-26%
Archivists	60	$52,810	-18%
Historians	60	$52,120	-32%

Employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

South Carolina pays below the national median across the board, and the gap is widest in exactly the jobs a history degree points toward. Teaching runs 13% below national and postsecondary teaching 12% below, which is a normal regional discount. Curators at 26% below and historians at 32% below are something else, and a gap that size for historians is among the widest in the country.

The job counts are small to match. Sixty working historians, 60 archivists, and 120 curators statewide against 16,080 secondary school teaching positions. If you are studying history in South Carolina and want to stay, the classroom is overwhelmingly where the work is.

History Resources in South Carolina

South Carolina Historical Association, founded in 1931 by people teaching and writing history in the state. It holds an annual meeting and publishes the peer-reviewed Proceedings, which is a realistic first venue for a strong graduate paper.
South Carolina Historical Society, founded 1855 and the state’s oldest and largest private archive, holding 350 years of records. It occupies Robert Mills’s 1822 Fireproof Building in Charleston, the first structure in the country built specifically to protect documents, with the research archive housed at the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library.
South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the state’s official records repository and historic preservation office.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which South Carolina University Has the Best History Program?

Clemson ranks first in our scoring, narrowly ahead of the University of South Carolina at Columbia. The two are close enough that the choice comes down to what you want. Clemson’s doctorate is in digital history, which suits computational and public-facing work, while USC Columbia offers a conventional history Ph.D. plus a dedicated master’s in public history, at $12,688 in state against Clemson’s $15,554.

Can You Get a History Degree Online in South Carolina?

Yes, but the options are concentrated. Our directory found 5 online history programs statewide, and 3 of those are at The Citadel, including online master’s degrees in military history and applied history. If you want an online history degree from a South Carolina school, The Citadel is the most likely answer.

Where Do History Graduates Work in South Carolina?

Mostly in classrooms. The state employs 16,080 secondary school teachers against 60 historians, 60 archivists, and 120 curators. Public history roles exist at the South Carolina Historical Society, the Department of Archives and History, and Charleston’s museums, but they are few and typically expect graduate training.

How Much Does a History Degree Cost in South Carolina?

Annual in-state tuition and fees at public universities offering history run from $10,730 to $15,554. The University of South Carolina’s regional campuses are the cheapest entry points: Beaufort $10,730, Aiken $10,760, and Upstate $11,588.