The College of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1934, and was one of the first institutions of higher education in New England at which a student could earn a Bachelor of Arts degree entirely through evening study. Today, seventeen academic departments offer more than forty programs of  study, including the New England School of Art & Design, which merged with Suffolk in 1996. 

In recent decades, the College has continually updated and expanded its curriculum and resources to fulfill its commitment to respond to the changing needs of its students and to new developments in various fields of study.