This is a list of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston. Some are located within Boston proper while some are located in neighboring cities and towns, but all are within the 128/95/1 loop. This is closer to the "inner core" definition of Metropolitan Boston, which excludes more suburban North Shore, South Shore and MetroWest regions. Although larger institutions may have several schools, some of which are located in cities other than that of the main campus (such as Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine), each institution is listed only once and location is determined by the site of each institution's main campus.
There are a total of 44 institutions of higher education in the defined region, including five junior colleges, 11 colleges that primarily grant baccalaureate and master's degrees, eight research universities, and 20 special-focus institutions. Of these, 39 are private ventures while five are public institutions (four are run by the state of Massachusetts and one is operated by the city of Quincy).
In 2007, enrollment at these colleges and universities ranged from 108 students at the Episcopal Divinity School to 32,053 students at Boston University. The first to be founded was Harvard University, also the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, while the most recently established institution is Sattler College. All but three of these schools are accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the oldest regional accrediting body in the United States.
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses, a satellite campus in Springfield and also 25 campuses throughout California and Washington with the University of Massachusetts Global.
The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. Holy Cross was the first Catholic college in New England and is among the oldest Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. is an American educational organization that accredits private and public secondary schools, primarily in New England. It also accredits international secondary schools and, less frequently, high schools in other U.S. states.
Quincy College (QC) is a public community college in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is an open admission commuter school that offers associate degrees, bachelor degrees, and certificate programs. It was founded in 1958 and enrolls approximately 3,500 students at campuses in Quincy and Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Daniel Webster College (DWC) was a private college in Nashua, New Hampshire. It operated from 1965 through 2017 and had a strong aeronautics focus during much of its history. It was a nonprofit college until 2009, when ITT Educational Services, Inc. bought it and converted it to a for-profit model. ITT declared bankruptcy in September 2016. It was operated through the 2016–17 academic year by Southern New Hampshire University, after which the college was closed.
Becker College was a private college in Worcester and Leicester, Massachusetts. Becker College traced its history from the union of two Massachusetts educational institutions—one founded in 1784 and the other in 1887. The college closed at the end of the 2020–21 academic year.
Fontbonne Academy is a private Roman Catholic college preparatory high school for girls, located in Milton, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. It was started in 1954 by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The school was fully accredited in 1959 by the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges. Accreditation has been consistently renewed for ten-year periods. In January 2019, Fontbonne Academy changed its name to Fontbonne Early College of Boston.
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on health- and life-sciences education, with campuses in Boston, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire, as well as online programs. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of study focused on professional education in pharmacy and the health sciences.
Atlantic Union College (AUC) was a private Seventh-day Adventist college in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1882. The college closed in 2018 due to accreditation and financial problems.
Huron University USA in London, also referred to as Huron University, was a private university located on Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London. The school offered American-style higher education. The university had over 350 students from more than 50 countries and offered a range of undergraduate and graduate programs in Central London. It is now the London campus of Hult International Business School.
Newbury College was a private college in Brookline, Massachusetts, originally founded in 1962.
Saint Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School, was a private, coeducational Catholic junior high and senior high school in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. The school was more commonly referred to as St. Peter-Marian, or informally as SPM or St. Peter's. It was one of four high schools operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester and was accredited by The New England Association of Schools & Colleges in 1969. After the 2019-2020 school year, SPM closed and merged with Holy Name. The school that they created is called Saint Paul’s, it is on the Holy Name campus.
North Shore Community College is a public community college in Massachusetts with campuses in Danvers and Lynn. The college offers over 80 associate degree and certificate programs to approximately 10,000 students a year from the 26 cities and towns along the coastal region from north metropolitan Boston to Cape Ann. North Shore Community College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Andover Newton Theological School (ANTS) was a graduate school and seminary in Newton, Massachusetts, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ. It was the product of a merger between Andover Theological Seminary and Newton Theological Institution. In recent years, it was an official open and affirming seminary, meaning that it was open to students of same-sex attraction or transgender orientation and generally advocated for tolerance of it in church and society.
Notre Dame Academy is a private, all-girls Roman Catholic high school in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
Labouré College of Healthcare is a private college specializing in nursing and healthcare education and located in Milton, Massachusetts. Founded in 1892, by the Daughters of Charity, it is the longest-running nursing education program in the Boston area. The college offers online and on-campus certificate, associate, and bachelor's degree programs. In 2013, the campus moved from Dorchester to Milton, Massachusetts.
Urban College of Boston is a private community college in Boston, Massachusetts. The college offers Associate of Arts degrees and certificate programs in 11 other areas.
Marymount School Barranquilla is a private, co-educational, Catholic school catering to students from Early Childhood to Grade 12 located in Barranquilla, Colombia. It operates on the American school system, participating and being an exam center for the region on SAT and PSAT/NMSQT exams.
Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis is a private educational institution that focuses on training psychoanalysts, particularly in the field of modern psychoanalysis. Founded in 1973, it only awards graduate degrees. Its main campus is in Brookline, Massachusetts.