The Oldest University in All 50 States

Late summer heralds the start of back-to-school season, meaning it won’t be long before college students are hurriedly finishing their term papers and chugging quad-shots of espresso during their late-night study sessions.

Learned students have wandered the hallowed halls of universities throughout the world for centuries. The oldest operating university was established way back in 859 CE in Fez, Morocco. This certainly was long before the establishment of the first American university (and, of course, the United States in general). Europe also boasts numerous universities that are more than 500 years old.

As expected, higher education institutions in the U.S. are quite a bit younger than their Old World counterparts. But several universities in the States now have at least a couple centuries under their belts.

The education search platform Erudera compiled a list of the oldest university or college in each state (plus Washington, D.C.). We’ve listed the results below.

The Oldest College in Each State

University	State	Year Founded
The University of Alabama	Alabama	1831
The University of Alaska Fairbanks	Alaska	1917
The University of Arizona	Arizona	1885
The University of the Ozarks	Arkansas	1834
Santa Clara University	California	1851
University of Denver	Colorado	1864
Yale University	Connecticut	1701
University of Delaware	Delaware	1743
Florida State University	Florida	1851
The University of Georgia	Georgia	1785
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa	Hawaii	1907
Brigham Young University-Idaho	Idaho	1888
McKendree University	Illinois	1828
Vincennes University	Indiana	1801
Loras College	Iowa	1839
Baker University	Kansas	1858
Transylvania University	Kentucky	1780
Centenary College of Louisiana	Louisiana	1825
Bowdoin College	Maine	1794
St. John's College	Maryland	1696
Harvard University	Massachusetts	1636
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan	1817
University of Minnesota Twin Cities	Minnesota	1851
Mississippi College in Clinton	Mississippi	1826
Saint Louis University	Missouri	1818
Rocky Mountain College	Montana	1878
Peru State College	Nebraska	1867
University of Nevada in Reno	Nevada	1874
Dartmouth College	New Hampshire	1769
Princeton University	New Jersey	1746
New Mexico State University	New Mexico	1888
Columbia University	New York	1754
Salem College	North Carolina	1772
The University of North Dakota	North Dakota	1883
Ohio University	Ohio	1804
Bacone College	Oklahoma	1880
Willamette University	Oregon	1842
University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	1740
Brown University	Rhode Island	1764
The College of Charleston	South Carolina	1770
Augustana University	South Dakota	1860
Tusculum University	Tennessee	1794
Southwestern University	Texas	1840
University of Utah	Utah	1850
Castleton State College	Vermont	1787
College of William & Mary	Virginia	1693
The University of Washington	Washington	1861
West Liberty University	West Virginia	1837
Carroll University	Wisconsin	1846
The University of Wyoming	Wyoming	1886
Georgetown University	Washington, D.C.	1789

Seven of the eight Ivy League schools (all but Cornell) made the list. The country’s oldest higher education institution, Harvard University in Massachusetts, was founded 1636—that’s more than 100 years before the Declaration of Independence was even signed.

Virginia is home to the second oldest, the College of William & Mary. William & Mary holds the distinction of being the first U.S. college with a royal charter; its namesake royals (King William II and Queen Mary II of England) signed the charter to establish a “perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences” in what was then the colony of Virginia in 1693.

And though a good number of schools on the above list are private, you’ll spot several public institutions as well. The oldest public university in the U.S. is the University of Georgia, which was founded in 1785.

The youngest of the oldest universities on the list is found in Alaska. The 49th state opened its first university—the University of Alaska Fairbanks—in 1917. The school was originally founded as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines.

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