The Oldest Colleges in Every State | Invesloan.com

Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, was founded in 1830 and claims to be Alabama’s oldest institution of higher learning.

According to the school’s website, it is the first Catholic college in the Southeast United States, the third-oldest Jesuit college, and the fifth-oldest Catholic college in the US.

Founded in 1917, the University of Alaska Fairbanks officially opened its doors to students in 1922, according to the school’s website.

In 1935, the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines became the University of Alaska. The school awarded its first Ph.D. in 1955.

The University of Arizona dates back to 1885, with enrollment beginning in 1891.

Britannica reported that in 1915, the university consisted of three colleges: letters, arts, and sciences; mines and engineering; and agriculture. Today, there are 20 colleges for students to choose from.

The University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas, was founded in 1834 by Cumberland Presbyterian officials. The first classes were held in a two-room log schoolhouse.

The name would eventually change from Cane Hill College to The College of the Ozarks and later The University of the Ozarks. 

In 1957, the University of the Ozarks became the first traditionally white college in Arkansas to admit African American students, according to the school’s website.

Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, traces its origins to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís, which was founded in 1777.

The university itself was established in 1851 as a preparatory school and began offering collegiate courses two years later, in 1853.

Today, it is the oldest operating institution of higher education in California.

The University of Denver dates back to 1864, when it was known as the Colorado Seminary.

According to the university’s website, it was founded just six years after Denver City was established in what was then the Colorado Territory. The university later opened one of the nation’s first business schools.

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, is one of America’s oldest educational institutions.

Yale University traces its roots to the 1640s, though the Connecticut legislature didn’t formally charter the collegiate school until 1701.

Seventeen years later, the institution was renamed Yale College in honor of benefactor Elihu Yale. Today, it ranks among the world’s most prestigious universities and is one of the eight Ivy League schools.

The University of Delaware was founded in 1743, making it one of the oldest educational institutions in the country.

According to the university’s website, a separate college opened in 1914 with 58 female students. In 1921, the two colleges merged to become the University of Delaware.

Georgetown University in Washington, DC, was founded in 1789. It is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning in the United States.

Classes officially began in 1792, and enrollment grew to more than 40 students within the school’s first year.

Florida State University in Tallahassee dates back to 1851, when the state legislature authorized two seminaries of learning.

Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, was chartered first. However, it wasn’t founded until 1885, making Florida State University technically the oldest in the state.

The University of Georgia in Athens became the first university in the country to have a state-supported charter in 1785. Its site in Athens was selected in 1801, and classes began that year.

Compared with many of the country’s oldest colleges, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a relatively recent addition.

Founded in Honolulu in 1907, the school was established under the Morrill Act as a land-grant college focused on agriculture and the mechanical arts.

Brigham Young University Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, was founded in 1888. It started as Bannock Stake Academy and is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The institution officially became known as Brigham Young University-Idaho in August 2001.

McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois, was founded in 1828 by pioneer Methodists in the state.

It is the oldest college in Illinois and the oldest in the nation with continuous ties to the United Methodist Church.

Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, was founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy, making it the state’s oldest institution of higher education.

The university is located in Indiana’s oldest city, where many historic buildings remain from the area’s early days as a French fur trading post.

Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, was founded in 1839 as a school intended to educate young men for the priesthood.

Loras College adopted its present name in 1939 and became a coeducational institution in the fall of 1971.

Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, was founded in February 1858, making it the oldest college in the state. The university welcomed its first students later that year and has remained in operation ever since.

Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, traces its roots to 1780, making it the oldest college in Kentucky.

Although the university was founded before Kentucky became a state, its first classes weren’t held until 1785 in a log cabin near present-day Danville that belonged to one of the institution’s first Board of Trustees chairmen.

Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport was founded in 1825, when it was known as the College of Louisiana.

It is the 43rd-oldest college in the United States and, according to the university’s website, tuition in the school’s early days was just $50 a year, and room, board, and firewood were $7 a month.

Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, was chartered in 1794, making it one of New England’s oldest colleges.

The institution welcomed its first students in 1802 and remained an all-male school for more than 160 years before admitting women for the first time in 1971.

Today, Bowdoin is consistently ranked among the nation’s top liberal arts colleges.

St. John’s College traces its roots to The King William’s School, which was founded in Annapolis in 1696. Maryland chartered St. John’s College in 1784, merging it with the earlier school.

According to the school’s website, it is the third-oldest college in the United States, behind Harvard University and the College of William and Mary.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest college in the entire country — it dates back to 1636, predating the country’s founding by nearly 140 years.

The school was named after a young minister named John Harvard, who, according to the university, left his library and half of his estate to the institution upon his death in 1638.

The University of Michigan was founded in 1817 as a preparatory school in Detroit. Britannica reported that the school moved to its present site in Ann Arbor in 1837.

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities was established in 1851, seven years before the creation of the state itself in 1858.

Both male and female students received instruction from the school before the school closed during the Civil War. The University of Minnesota reopened in 1867 and was reorganized as a university in 1869.

Founded in 1826 as Hampstead Academy, Mississippi College is the oldest college in Mississippi.

It is located in Clinton, Mississippi, and was renamed Mississippi Academy in January 1827, when the school began offering classes to both male and female students.

Saint Louis University was founded inside a private residence near the Mississippi River at the request of the Rev. Louis William DuBourg, Catholic Bishop of Louisiana, in 1818.

Not only is Saint Louis University the oldest educational institution of higher learning in Missouri, but it’s also the oldest university west of the Mississippi River, according to the school’s website.

Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, dates back to 1878 and originally comprised three separate colleges.

In 1947, the schools combined to become Billings Polytechnic Institute, later named Rocky Mountain College.

Peru State College is the oldest college in Nebraska — it was founded in 1867. It was originally established as a teacher-training school, with 60 students attending classes in a single building.

However, the institution has since expanded considerably.

The University of Nevada was founded in 1874 following the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862.

The University’s first iteration was located in Elko but has since moved to Reno, Nevada.

Dartmouth College was founded in 1769. It’s the ninth-oldest university in the nation, according to the school, and has been in operation for more than 250 years.

Princeton University was chartered in 1746, making it the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

Originally founded as the College of New Jersey, the school moved to Princeton in 1756 and officially adopted the name Princeton University in 1896.

New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico, was founded in 1888 as the state’s first land-grant university, according to the school.

Throughout its history, the university has operated under multiple names, including Las Cruces College and New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. 

Columbia University is the oldest college in the state of New York. It was founded in 1754 as King’s College by a royal charter of King George II of England.

According to the school’s website, it is the fifth-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and played a vital role in American history through some of its first students and trustees, namely John Jay, who served as the first chief justice of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury.

Salem College was founded as a girls’ school in 1772, four years before the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. It became known as the Salem Female Academy in the mid-19th century and awarded its first bachelor’s degrees in 1890.

It remains the oldest educational institution for girls and women in America, according to the college’s website.

The University of North Dakota was founded in 1883, six years before North Dakota became recognized as a state. The very first graduating class was coeducational and consisted of six women and two men.

Of them, Dr. Cora Smith King became the first woman to receive a medical license in the state of North Dakota, according to the university’s website.

Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, was founded in 1804 after the Ohio legislature approved a new act authorizing its establishment. Ohio University first offered classes in 1809, when the institution operated more similarly to a high school than a college.

In 1822, after Ohio University hired a team of more highly skilled faculty members, the school began to offer a traditional college program.

The University of Central Oklahoma was founded in 1890.

In November 1891, the very first class of 23 students met in the Epworth League Room inside the unfurnished First Methodist Church, according to the school’s website.

Willamette University was established in 1842 as a missionary school.

The university is one of the oldest coeducational colleges in the United States — the very first graduate of the university was a woman, and women were attending the School of Medicine as early as 1877, according to the Willamette University website.

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia dates back to 1740, when it was established as a charity school that would also house a place of worship for local people in Pennsylvania.

It was the first American institution of higher learning to officially bear the name “university,” according to the school.

Brown University was founded in 1764 as the third college in New England and the seventh in America.

Originally located in Warren, Rhode Island, it was the first Ivy League school to accept students from all religious affiliations.

The College of Charleston was founded in 1770 and officially chartered in 1785. The city of Charleston took control of the college in 1836, making it the first municipal college in the nation.

Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, traces its origins to Hillsboro Academy, a school founded in Hillsboro, Illinois, in 1835.

The institution officially became Augustana in 1860, when its first class was held on September 1. It moved to Canton in Dakota Territory in 1884 and eventually to Sioux Falls in 1918.

The University of South Dakota, the oldest public university in the state, was founded in 1862, but Augustana’s roots stretch back further.

The school was chartered in 1794 as Greeneville College.

In 1844, the renamed Tusculum Academy officially adopted the name Tusculum College, and in 2018, it became Tusculum University.

Southwestern University in Georgetown traces its roots to four predecessor institutions, the earliest of which was chartered in 1840, five years after Colonel William B. Travis wrote a letter to the New York Christian Advocate requesting that a Methodist presence be established in Texas, according to the school’s website.

The four institutions merged to form the current university in 1873.

It claims to have been the site of many firsts, including the first homecoming on record and the first student literary journal in the state.

Originally named the University of Deseret, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City was founded in 1850.

The first term began in November 1850, during which time only male students were admitted. At the start of the second term, both men and women were allowed to attend.

Vermont State University’s Castleton campus traces its origins to the Rutland County Grammar School, founded in 1787.

Castleton University, which sits on a historic 165-acre campus, became part of the newly created Vermont State University in 2023.

The College of William & Mary is located in the historic colonial town of Williamsburg, Virginia, and dates back to 1693.

It is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in the US and has a long list of esteemed and influential alumni.

American presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler all studied at William & Mary, as did 16 members of the Continental Congress and four signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

The University of Washington in Seattle, originally named the Territorial University of Washington, is the oldest in the state — it was founded in 1861.

In 1867, tuition at UW was just $30, according to the school.

Bethany College was founded in 1840, though the town of Bethany dates back to 1769.

By the time West Virginia was recognized as a US state in 1863, Bethany College was the only institution of higher learning in the state to offer collegiate degrees, according to the school.

Carroll University was chartered in 1846 by the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, two years before Wisconsin became a state. The school was originally established as an academy in 1841 by settlers living in the Wisconsin Territory community of Prairieville.

When the college first opened, the enrollment consisted of five students and two faculty members, Eleazar Root and John W. Sterling, according to the university’s website.

The University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, was founded as a land-grant university in 1886. When the school first opened, there were five faculty members and 42 students, according to the university.

Editor’s note: This story was first published in October 2018 and most recently updated in August 2026.