Although general education requirements comprise one-third of U.S. four-year degree requirements, we know little about their role in shaping student course-taking pathways. Drawing on administrative data from Texas linked with general education requirements at 32 four-year institutions, I study the role of general education in U.S. higher education. I show that general education requirements dramatically shape student course-taking, particularly in the first two years of a student’s academic career. Using a difference-in-differences design, I estimate the causal effect of adding a general education designation to a pre-existing course: adding a general education designation increases course enrollments by 43 percent and departmental enrollments by 49 percent. These enrollment increases translate into increased instructional staffing and course offerings within affected departments. I argue that changing general education designations offers state policymakers a seemingly neutral mechanism that reshapes student pathways while reallocating resources and instructors according to their ideological priorities.