History Degrees in Connecticut

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Fifty-three Africans taken from Sierra Leone revolted aboard the schooner Amistad in July 1839, and the ship was seized off Long Island and brought into New London. The murder charges were dropped almost immediately, and what remained was an argument about property: who, if anyone, owned the people aboard. The federal court at New Haven answered that nobody did, because they had been illegally enslaved in the first place. The Van Buren administration appealed, John Quincy Adams argued the case before the Supreme Court in February 1841, and the Court agreed. The whole thing was decided on the documentary record of where those people had come from and when. Connecticut still teaches that kind of close reading in quantity. It charges more than any other state for the privilege.

Connecticut has 16 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 35 programs among them: 27 bachelor’s degrees, 6 master’s degrees, and 2 doctorates.

It is also the most expensive state in the country to start studying the subject, with nothing available below $13,050 a year in state.

Connecticut at a Glance

Schools offering history	16
History programs	35
Bachelor’s / master’s / doctoral	27 / 6 / 2
Online programs	0
Schools offering all three levels	2
Lowest in-state tuition and fees	$13,050 per year
Largest history catalog	Yale University, 5 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 Connecticut

We scored all 17 Connecticut 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%). Yale leads on depth at 5 programs with UConn at 4. Outcomes belong to Yale at 96% and UConn at 83% completing in four years. Reputation rests on those same two R1 universities. Affordability is the only factor separating them, and it is decisive: UConn charges $21,044 in state against Yale’s $67,250. Here are Connecticut’s best history degrees.

1 University of Connecticut

UConn is the state’s only public route to a history doctorate, and at $21,044 in state it costs roughly a third of Yale. Four programs cover history and art history at bachelor’s level, then a history master’s and Ph.D., with 83% of students finishing in four years. For an in-state student wanting research-university depth, there is no real alternative at this price.

History programs: 4
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $21,044

2 Yale University

Yale completes 96% of its students in four years, the highest rate in the state, and structures its undergraduate degree two ways at once: a Bachelor’s in History with Regional Tracks and a Bachelor’s in History with Pathways, so a student builds the major either around a place or around a theme. A bachelor’s in history of art sits alongside them, then a master’s and doctorate. Tuition and fees are $67,250.

History programs: 5
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral
Carnegie classification: R1, very high research activity
In-state tuition and fees: $67,250

3 Southern Connecticut State University

Southern Connecticut offers the widest choice outside the two research universities: bachelor’s degrees in both history and art history plus a history M.A., at $13,438. It is the strongest of the four Connecticut State Universities for this subject and less than a fifth of Yale’s price.

History programs: 3
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, larger programs
In-state tuition and fees: $13,438

4 Central Connecticut State University

Central Connecticut is the least expensive school in the state at $13,050 and runs a history bachelor’s and M.A. For a student weighing price above everything else, it is Connecticut’s entry point into the subject at either level.

History programs: 2
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, larger programs
In-state tuition and fees: $13,050

5 Western Connecticut State University

Western Connecticut offers a history bachelor’s and M.A. at $13,401 in Danbury, on the New York side of the state. It sits within a few hundred dollars of Central and Southern, so the choice among the three comes down to location and department instead of cost.

History programs: 2
Levels offered: Bachelor’s, master’s
Carnegie classification: Master’s university, medium programs
In-state tuition and fees: $13,401

Four of these five schools are public, and three of them are priced between $13,050 and $13,438.

Most Affordable History Degrees in Connecticut

Most affordable history degrees in Connecticut
Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	Central Connecticut State University	B.A. in History	$13,050
2	Western Connecticut State University	B.A. in History	$13,401
3	Southern Connecticut State University	B.A. in History	$13,438
4	Eastern Connecticut State University	B.A. in History	$13,928
5	University of Connecticut-Stamford	B.A. in History	$18,150
6	University of Connecticut	B.A. in History	$21,044
7	Albertus Magnus College	B.A. in History	$41,908
8	University of Saint Joseph	B.A. in History	$47,278
9	University of New Haven	B.A. in History	$47,332
10	University of Hartford	B.A. in History	$49,075

Annual in-state tuition and fees. Public institutions take all six top places, topping out at $21,044, and then the list jumps straight to $41,908. Nothing at all occupies the gap.

History Education in Connecticut

Connecticut is an expensive place to study this subject at every level. The cheapest history degree in the state costs $13,050 a year, which is a higher floor than any other state in the country. Only the District of Columbia starts higher. There is no inexpensive tier here of the kind Georgia, North Carolina, or Florida offer, and the four Connecticut State Universities that anchor the bottom of the market are still more expensive than the flagship public university in a dozen other states.

Above that the gap becomes a chasm. The six public institutions run from $13,050 to $21,044. The cheapest private college charges $41,908, and Yale charges $67,250. Nothing occupies the range in between, so the decision is a binary one, not a sliding scale.

The private sector carries more of the field than the public one, with eleven private colleges running 21 programs against six publics running 13, but almost all of that private provision stops at the bachelor’s. Only two schools teach history at all three levels, UConn and Yale, and they hold both of the state’s doctorates between them.

Yale is worth a closer look for how it structures the undergraduate degree. Rather than one major with electives, it offers Regional Tracks and Pathways as two separate structures, so a student chooses whether to build the degree around a part of the world or around a question that crosses several. Maryland’s flagship does something similar; almost nobody else does.

Connecticut has no online history programs in our listings, which puts it in a small group of states offering no distance route at all. Anyone who needs to study remotely will be enrolling outside the state, and our guide to online history degrees covers those options.

Transfer works well but only in one direction. The Transfer Tickets program lets a student complete a 60-credit associate degree at a Connecticut community college and move into a bachelor’s in the same major without any loss of credit. The limitation is which doors it opens: the receiving institutions are the four Connecticut State Universities and Charter Oak State College. UConn is not part of it, and neither is Yale, so the state’s top-ranked history department sits outside the guarantee. Details are at CSCU.

Becoming a History Teacher in Connecticut

Connecticut issues a single endorsement covering the field, history and social studies, so there is no history-only credential here.

The coursework standard is more specific than most states publish. It requires a minimum of nine semester hours in history, which must include United States history and either western civilization or European history and non-western history, plus coursework in at least three of political science, economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, or psychology. A history major covers the first part comfortably and needs to plan deliberately for the second.

There is also a change worth knowing about if you are already teaching. Since July 1, 2023, an educator holding a valid initial, provisional, or professional certificate can add the history and social studies endorsement for grades 4-12 by passing the appropriate Praxis II test alone. The additional content coursework that used to be required no longer is. For a certified teacher moving across from another subject, that is a substantially shorter route than it was.

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

History Careers in Connecticut

History Careers in Connecticut
Occupation	Connecticut jobs	Connecticut median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	14,800	$80,970	+12%
Postsecondary history teachers	300	$101,950	+22%
Curators	190	$76,510	+21%
Archivists	160	$79,790	+24%
Historians	40	$66,770	-13%

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

Connecticut pays four of these five occupations well above the national median and the fifth well below, which is a pattern worth understanding before you choose a job title.

Archivists earn 24% above national, postsecondary history teachers 22% above, and curators 21% above. Secondary school teaching is 12% above across 14,800 positions. Historians earn 13% below national.

New York produces the same inversion, and the two states together suggest something about the north-eastern market rather than a quirk in one dataset. The roles that pay well here are attached to institutions with endowments and budgets: universities, museums, and archives. The work the Bureau counts as “historian” sits more often in non-profits, historical societies, and consultancies, which do not pay on the same scale even in a wealthy state.

The practical reading for a Connecticut student is that the collections and teaching routes are the well-paid ones locally, and that all of these are small markets: 190 curator and 160 archivist positions in the whole state.

History Resources in Connecticut

Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Hartford. Founded as the Connecticut Historical Society and renamed in June 2023 after nearly two hundred years under the old name, so older references and library records still use it. It holds the state’s principal historical collections outside the government archives.
Connecticut State Library, Hartford, which houses the State Archives alongside its library collections, covering government records, land and probate material, and manuscript collections.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where Can You Study History in Connecticut?

Connecticut has 34 history programs at 17 colleges and universities. Yale has the largest catalog at 5 programs, with UConn and the University of Hartford at 4 each. Only Yale and UConn teach the subject at all three levels, and they hold the state’s only two doctorates.

Which Connecticut University Has the Best History Program?

UConn ranks first, mainly on value: it is the state’s only public route to a history doctorate and charges $21,044 in state against Yale’s $67,250. Yale ranks second, with the deepest catalog, a 96% completion rate, and two parallel undergraduate structures.

What Is the Cheapest History Degree in Connecticut?

Central Connecticut State University at $13,050 a year, which covers a bachelor’s and a master’s. That is the lowest figure in the state and also a higher starting price than any other state in the country: only Washington DC begins higher.

Can You Get a History Degree Online in Connecticut?

Not from a Connecticut institution, going by what we list. We show no online history program at any school in the state, at any level, which puts Connecticut in a small group of states with no distance route at all. Students who need to study remotely will be enrolling elsewhere.

How Do You Become a History Teacher in Connecticut?

You need the history and social studies endorsement, which is the only one Connecticut offers for secondary social studies. It requires at least nine semester hours in history plus coursework in three of political science, economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, or psychology, and a passing Praxis II score. If you already hold a Connecticut teaching certificate, since July 2023 you can add this endorsement for grades 4-12 by passing the Praxis alone. Requirements are published by the Connecticut State Department of Education.