The Oldest College In Every State

Parent Cafe
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I thought this article was interesting and wanted to share it. Would you have guessed correctly for your state?

Here’s the article…

And here’s the list (if you don’t want to read the whole article):

State Oldest College/University
Alabama Spring Hill College
Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks
Arizona University of Arizona
Arkansas University of the Ozarks
California Santa Clara University
Colorado University of Denver
Connecticut Yale University
Delaware University of Delaware
District of Columbia Georgetown University
Florida Florida State University
Georgia University of Georgia
Hawaii University of Hawaii at Manoa
Idaho Brigham Young University-Idaho
Illinois McKendree University
Indiana Vincennes University
Iowa Loras College
Kansas Baker University
Kentucky Transylvania University
Louisiana Centenary College of Louisiana
Maine Bowdoin College
Maryland St. John’s College
Massachusetts Harvard University
Michigan University of Michigan
Minnesota University of Minnesota
Mississippi Mississippi College
Missouri Saint Louis University
Montana Rocky Mountain College
Nebraska Peru State College
Nevada University of Nevada, Reno
New Hampshire Dartmouth College
New Jersey Princeton University
New Mexico New Mexico State University
New York Columbia University
North Carolina Salem College
North Dakota University of North Dakota
Ohio Ohio University
Oklahoma Bacone College
Oregon Willamette University
Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania
Rhode Island Brown University
South Carolina College of Charleston
South Dakota Augustana University
Tennessee Tusculum University
Texas Southwestern University
Utah University of Utah
Vermont Castleton University
Virginia College of William & Mary
Washington University of Washington
West Virginia West Liberty University
Wisconsin Carroll University
Wyoming University of Wyoming
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Never heard of the one in my state!

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I have lived in NJ, NY, MA and OR. I guessed correctly for all except for OR.

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I would not have guessed OR, CA, ID or CO.

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I guessed my own state correctly, but was surprised to see some of the others.

And yes, there are several colleges on the list that I’ve never heard of!

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Hm, though I would not have guessed either of these:

  • Santa Clara University: Founded in 1851 as Santa Clara College on the historic site of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, it was the first to actually begin instruction and hold continuous operations.

  • University of the Pacific: Originally chartered as California Wesleyan College on July 10, 1851, it holds the title of the oldest officially chartered college in the state, though it did not begin holding classes until 1852.

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I would have guessed the oldest in Ohio would have been one of our small (often religious affiliated) privates. Ohio University, go figure.

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I actually thought that it was Miami, but they’re 5 year younger.

They had 117 year before the Vampire jokes started…

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This surprised me. I had no idea it was that old!

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Anyone who missed Virginia probably shouldn’t be giving advice on CC :grinning_face:

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Or Massachusetts.

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That’s not really correct for North Carolina. Really tired of these bad click bait lists, whether they are AI-generated or not.

Salem College started granting college diplomas in 1890 about 94 years after UNC-Chapel Hill did. Salem College is quite historic, but it was first called “The Little Girls School” when it was founded in 1772 to provide education to young girls. It was not a college for its first 100 years. Milestones - Salem College

I think UNC-Chapel Hill is the oldest actual college or university in North Carolina (certainly way older than Duke) but there may be some other smaller school that is older. According to Wikipedia UNC gave out its first diploma in 1796.

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