General Studies: Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, Canada is a bachelor's degree in Arts, Design & Architecture programme. The programme runs for 4 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 515 per credit (CAD 216 per credit for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Bachelor's Degree
Field:Arts, Design & Architecture
Duration: 4 years
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 216 / credit
International tuition: CAD 515 / credit
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
Thompson Rivers University's Bachelor of Arts, General Studies is a 120-credit degree delivered through Open Learning that lets distance students build a broad program across the humanities, sciences, and social sciences rather than committing to a single major. The degree requires 24 credits of breadth coursework in English, humanities, mathematics or science, and social science, 45 upper-level credits, and 51 elective credits that can be drawn from lower- or upper-level courses, all completed with a minimum 2.00 GPA. Admission is open, but students must complete at least 15 TRU credits through distance or on-campus study to satisfy residency, and credit toward the degree can also come from Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition; the university notes that applied credit cannot be used to meet the program's arts requirements. Students who qualify can apply for financial support through TRU's Student Awards & Financial Aid office.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Thompson Rivers University's Open Learning page for the Bachelor of Arts in General Studies lists open admission as the entry requirement, stating no required courses, minimum grades, prior credential, GPA or English-language test score (IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, Duolingo or CAEL) for entry. Degree completion instead carries its own conditions: a minimum of 15 TRU credits completed in residence (distance or on-campus), an overall GPA of 2.00 or higher across all courses required for the degree, and a 120-credit structure including 6 credits of university-level English composition and literature, 45 upper-level credits and 69 elective credits. No portfolio, interview, work-experience or age condition is stated for admission on this page.
Application Details
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) apply directly to TRU: for the September (Fall) intake the deadline is 1 May, for January (Winter) it is 1 September, and for the May (Summer) intake it is 1 January; applications for most programs open 1 October, and a deadline falling on a weekend or statutory holiday moves to the next working day. International applicants follow the same intake structure with deadlines of 1 May (September), 1 October (January) and 1 February (May); TRU still reviews later applications where space remains, though high-volume programs can close early, so admission runs on a rolling basis around these published cut-offs for the 2027 entry cycle. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
