 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
In the United States, a state college or state university is one of the public colleges or universities funded by or associated with the state government. In some cases, these institutions of higher learning are part of a state university system, while in other cases they are not. Several U.S. territories also administer public colleges and universities.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of more than 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
A public university is a university that is publicly owned or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university is considered public varies from one country to another, largely depending on the specific education landscape.
State governments of the United States are institutional units in the United States exercising some of the functions of government at a level below that of the federal government. Each state's government holds legislative, executive, and judicial authority over a defined geographic territory. The United States comprises 50 states: 13 that were already part of the United States at the time the present Constitution took effect in 1789, plus 37 that have been admitted since by Congress as authorized under Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution.
Contents
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Guam
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Virgin Islands
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- References
The U.S. federal government does not run colleges or universities except for the service academies, the Community College of the Air Force, the Naval Postgraduate School, the Air Force Institute of Technology, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, military war colleges and staff colleges, and Haskell Indian Nations University. Additionally, Georgetown University, Gallaudet University, Howard University, and American University are private universities that are federally chartered. However, the federal government does make grants to state universities.
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a federal republic in North America, composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and several island possessions. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the president, and the federal courts, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
The Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) is a federal program offered by the United States Air Force which grants two-year Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees in association with Air University. CCAF serves approximately 300,000 active, guard, and reserve enlisted personnel, making CCAF the world's largest community college system. The college awards over 22,000 associate in applied science degrees from 71 degree programs annually.
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It grants master’s degrees, doctoral degrees, and certificates. Established in 1909, the school also offers research fellowship opportunities at the postdoctoral level through the National Academies’ National Research Council research associateship program.
These state, as well as private, universities are accredited by different regional, not national, accreditation agencies, including the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the Higher Learning Commission, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, depending on which region of the United States the university is located in. These accreditation agencies' approvals are critical to a university's operations and public reputation. If a university loses accreditation or is not accredited in the first place, students will be reluctant to either continue or enroll at the school because the degree will be seen as being worthless. In a worst-case scenario, a university can shut down completely. The aforementioned agencies are all recognized by the United States Department of Education.
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performs peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atlantic United States and certain foreign institutions of American origin. The MSA has until at least 2013 comprised three separate commissions:
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) is an independent, voluntary, nonprofit membership organization which connects and serves over 1500 public, independent, and international learning communities in the US and worldwide. Founded in 1885, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has been working to establish and maintain high standards for all levels of education longer than any other accreditation agency in the United States. A globally recognized standard of excellence, NEASC Accreditation attests to a school’s high quality and integrity.
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional effectiveness of higher education institutions in the seven-state Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. It fulfills its mission by establishing accreditation criteria and evaluation procedures by which institutions are reviewed. The commission dropped its association with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and as of May 2012, is not listed in CHEA's database of recognized accrediting agencies; it is shown as one that was formerly recognized. The agency is still the regional accrediting agency for the Pacific Northwest states, as CHEA recognition is not required in order for accrediting agencies to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Most state universities receive at least part of their funding from the state, although many have substantial income from tuition and fees, endowment proceeds, donations (such as from alumni or philanthropists), and revenue from royalties. State universities usually offer lower tuition costs to in-state residents. According to the College Board, public four-year colleges charge on average $7,605 per year in tuition and fees for full-time in-state students and $11,990 for out-of-state students. [1]
A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are often structured so that the principal value is kept intact, while the investment income or a small part of the principal is available for use each year.
College Board is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a membership association of institutions, including over 6,000 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.
In some states, e.g. Maryland, Tennessee, Indiana, and Washington, there is a campus designated as the "flagship" campus in the state's university system, which generally is the most prestigious campus and the largest campus in student population, e.g. the University of Maryland College Park campus in the University System of Maryland, the Indiana University Bloomington campus in the Indiana University System, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus in the University of Tennessee System, and the University of Washington's Seattle campus in the University of Washington System.
Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. The state's largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after the English queen Henrietta Maria, known in England as Queen Mary.
Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by eight states, with Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the west, and Missouri to the northwest. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, with a 2017 population of 667,560 and a 2017 metro population of 1,903,045. Tennessee's second largest city is Memphis, which had a population of 652,236 in 2017.
Indiana is a U.S. state in the Midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U.S. state on December 11, 1816. Indiana borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north, Ohio to the east, Kentucky to the south and southeast, and Illinois to the west.
However, in some other states, the state universities are treated as equal partners; therefore there is no officially recognized flagship campus in the state's university system. [2]
There are a number of states that have more than one university system, e.g. California with 2; Colorado with 2; Indiana with 2; New York with 2; Tennessee with 2; and Texas with 6 (the most).
| Education in the United States |
|---|
|
  |
Notes:
- As a general rule, schools are not alphabetized by their complete names, but rather by the names by which they are normally called. For example, in a list alphabetized by normal rules, "Auburn University" would precede "University of Alabama," but the schools are virtually always referred to in popular conversation as "Auburn" and "Alabama" (followed by a campus identifier if required by the context). Therefore, in this article, "Alabama" precedes "Auburn".
- The list includes some of the more common academic nicknames or acronyms used for certain colleges or universities, e.g. "Ole Miss" for the University of Mississippi, "Idaho State" for Idaho State University, or "UNF" for the University of North Florida, not the "Rebels", "Bengals", or "Ospreys", respectively.
- To minimize any confusion regarding acronyms, either the first school listed or the school that is more nationally known having an acronym the same as another has the acronym provided, e.g. San Diego State University has the acronym "SDSU" included because it is listed before South Dakota State University, and Arizona State University has the acronym "ASU" given because it is better known nationally than Alabama State. In addition, only acronyms that are unique are given, e.g. "UW Tacoma" for the University of Washington's Tacoma campus or "UNH" for the University of New Hampshire.
- The list also includes schools that grant first-professional doctorates only (e.g., medical schools, law schools, or veterinary schools) that are independent of any other school in a state system.
- Satellite campuses that do not have accreditation separate from the mother institution are not included in the list, e.g. University of Washington Tacoma remains an integral part of the University of Washington, which is based in Seattle. On the other hand, institutions like University of Houston–Downtown and University of California, Santa Cruz are provided separate entries as they are considered independent, autonomous institutions.
- To see a list of community colleges and technical centers in the United States that offer only associate's degrees, visit the community colleges list.
- To see a list of tribal colleges and universities in the United States, visit the tribal colleges and universities list.
- Non-bachelor's degree-granting institutions, such as graduate schools, are listed in italics.
