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The Colonial Colleges are nine institutions of higher education
Higher education

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by university, vocational university, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, Institute of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as Vocational school, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications....
 chartered in the American Colonies
Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783....
 before the American Revolution
American Revolution

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
 (1775–1783). These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Originally published in 1907-1921, the 18 volumes include 303 chapters and more than 11,000 pages, edited and written by a worldwide panel of 171 leading scholars and thinkers of the early twentieth century....
. Although today most of these institutions refer to themselves as "universities
University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education....
", they are called "colonial colleges" partly because, at the time of the revolution, only Penn
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
 called itself a "university".






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The Colonial Colleges are nine institutions of higher education
Higher education

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by university, vocational university, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, Institute of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as Vocational school, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications....
 chartered in the American Colonies
Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783....
 before the American Revolution
American Revolution

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
 (1775–1783). These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Originally published in 1907-1921, the 18 volumes include 303 chapters and more than 11,000 pages, edited and written by a worldwide panel of 171 leading scholars and thinkers of the early twentieth century....
. Although today most of these institutions refer to themselves as "universities
University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education....
", they are called "colonial colleges" partly because, at the time of the revolution, only Penn
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
 called itself a "university". Each had assumed the power to grant academic degree
Academic degree

A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as University, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study....
s, a power in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 only held by universities; several were offering some graduate instruction. (See college
College

File:Government college for Women Dhoke Kala Khan.JPGCollege is a term most often used today to denote an education institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of collegialitys, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals....
 for more on American usage of that word.)

The nine colonial colleges are listed below in order of founding under the name by which they were known for the bulk of the colonial period
Colonial America

The term colonial history of the United States refers to the history of the land that would become the United States from the start of European colonization of the Americas to the time of independence from Europe, and especially to the history of the thirteen colonies which declared themselves independent in 1776....
. Also listed are the religious groups that were instrumental in each college's foundation and early history. In most cases the listed religious links, although often strong, were de facto rather than official. (At any rate, all have long since affirmed their secularity
Secularism

Secularism is the assertion that governmental practices or institutions should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a state that is neutral on matters...
.) In addition to the religious/secular boundary, the line between state
State university

In the United States, a state university or state college is one of the public university List of colleges and universities in the state university system....
 and private
Private university

Private universities are not operated by governments though they may or may not receive funding . Depending on the region, private universities may be subject to government regulation....
 control was also far more blurred than today: as the distinction crystallized over time, some schools became fully independent and others part of their state's higher-education system.

Seven of the nine colonial colleges are part of the Ivy League
Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of university in the Northeastern United States. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group....
 athletic conference: Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
, Yale
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
, Princeton
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
, Penn
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
, Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
, Brown
Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
, and Dartmouth
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private university, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, New Hampshire. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College,"...
. (The eighth member of the Ivy League
Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of university in the Northeastern United States. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group....
, Cornell University
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
, was founded in 1865.) The two colonial colleges not in the Ivy League
Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of university in the Northeastern United States. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group....
 are now both public universities—The College of William & Mary (in the Colonial Athletic Association
Colonial Athletic Association

The Colonial Athletic Association, also known as the CAA, is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I list of college athletic conferences whose members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia ....
) and Rutgers University
Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766 and is the Colonial colleges in the United States....
, the state university of New Jersey (in the Big East Conference
Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a List of college athletic conferences consisting of seventeen universities in the northeastern, southeastern and midwestern United States....
). William & Mary was a private institution from 1693 until just after the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
 and has been public since 1906 while Rutgers only became the State University of New Jersey after World War II.

Other colonial-era foundations

Several other colleges and universities can be traced to colonial-era "academies" or "schools", but are not considered Colonial Colleges because they were not chartered as formal colleges with degree-granting powers until after the formation of the United States of America in 1776.

See also

  • First university in the United States
    First university in the United States

    First university in the United States is a status asserted by more than one U.S. university. In the U.S. there is no official definition of what entitles an institution to be considered a university versus a college, and the common understanding of "university" has evolved over time....