The following is a list of colleges and universities in Houston, located within the city limits.
Four separate and distinct state universities are located in Houston.
The University of Houston is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. The University of Houston–Clear Lake and the University of Houston–Downtown are stand-alone universities; they are not branch campuses of the University of Houston. Admission into each institution is separate, and each institution has distinct admission criteria and requirements.
Texas Southern University is the only independent state university in Houston and is one of the largest historically black universities in the U.S.
Institution | Founded | Enrollment (Fall 2012) | Campus acreage | Freshman acceptance rate [1] (Fall 2012) | Endowment | Research expenditures (FY 2011) | Carnegie classification [2] | U.S. News Ranking |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Houston 4800 Calhoun Rd | 1927 | 40,747 | 667 | 55.9% | $590 million [3] | $128 million [3] | Research (Very High) | National Universities, No. 171 (Tier 1) [4] |
University of Houston–Clear Lake 2700 Bay Area Blvd | 1971 | 8,153 | 524 | N/A | $22.6 million [5] | $2.2 million [5] | Master's (Large) | Regional Universities, Tier 2 [6] |
University of Houston–Downtown 1 Main St | 1974 | 13,916 | 20 | 90.3% | $34.7 million [7] | $1.5 million [7] | Baccalaureate– Diverse | Regional Colleges, Tier 2 [8] |
Texas Southern University 3100 Cleburne St | 1927 | 9,646 | 150 | 87.3% | $48.7 million [9] | N/A | Doctoral/ Research | National Universities, Tier 2 [10] |
Colleges in or nearby Houston
Other Community Colleges around Houston
Nonsectarian
Sectarian
Public
Private
Public
Private
Houston is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.
William Marsh Rice University is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities in the United States.
Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a public coeducational university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, it is the largest state-supported university primarily for women in the United States. The university is part of the Texas Woman's University System. It offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in 60 areas of study across six colleges.
Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas. With a population of 6,997,384 people at the 2018 census estimates and 7,122,240 in 2020, Greater Houston is the second-most populous in Texas after the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The approximately 10,000-square-mile (26,000 km2) region centers on Harris County, the third-most populous county in the U.S., which contains the city of Houston—the largest economic and cultural center of the South—with a population of more than 2.3 million. Greater Houston is part of the Texas Triangle megaregion along with the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Greater Austin, and Greater San Antonio. Greater Houston also serves as a major anchor and economic hub for the Gulf Coast. Its Port of Houston is the second largest port in the United States, sixteenth largest in the world, and leads the U.S. in international trade.
Strayer University is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1892 as Strayer's Business College and later became Strayer College, before being granted university status in 1998. Strayer University operates under the holding company Strategic Education, Inc., which was established in 1996 and rebranded after the merger with Capella University.
The Texas A&M University System is a state university system in Texas and is one of the state's six independent university systems.
The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the third-largest university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in southeast Houston, spans 894 acres (3.62 km2), with the inclusion of its Sugar Land and Katy sites. The university is classified as an "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."
Delaware State University is a public historically black land-grant research university in Dover, Delaware. DSU also has two satellite campuses: one in Wilmington and one in Georgetown. The university encompasses four colleges and a diverse population of undergraduate and advanced-degree students. Delaware State University is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Texas Southern University is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 students enrolled and over 100 academic programs. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and it is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
The Texas State University System (TSUS) was created in 1911 to oversee the state's normal schools. Since its creation it has broadened its focus and comprises institutions of many different scopes. The other systems of state universities are the Texas A&M System, the Texas Tech System, the University of Houston System, the University of North Texas System, and the University of Texas System.
The University of Houston System is a public university system in Texas, comprising four separate and distinct universities. It also owns and holds broadcasting licenses to a public television station (KUHT) and a public radio station (KUHF).
The University of Houston–Downtown (UHD) is a public university in Houston, Texas. It is part of the University of Houston System and has a campus that spans 40 acres (16 ha) in Downtown Houston with a satellite location, UHD-Northwest in Harris County. Founded in 1974, UHD is the second-largest university in Houston. The university serves students in four academic colleges and offers 56 degree programs—46 bachelors and 10 masters. UHD also offers 15 undergraduate-completion programs and 3 fully online master's programs. Awarding more than 3,600 degrees annually, the UHD boasts more than 64,000 alumni.
The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is a public university in Pasadena and Houston, Texas, with branch campuses in Pearland and Texas Medical Center. It is part of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1971, UHCL had an enrollment of more than 9,000 students for fall 2019.
The University of Houston–Victoria (UHV) is a public university in Victoria, Texas. It is part of the University of Houston System. Its campus spans 20 acres (8.1 ha) in Victoria with a satellite location at UHV Katy. Founded in 1971, UHV has an enrollment of over 4,300 students.
Prairie View A&M University is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learning in the state. It offers baccalaureate degrees in 50 academic majors, 37 master's degrees and four doctoral degree programs through eight colleges and the School of Architecture. PVAMU is the largest HBCU in the state of Texas and the third largest HBCU in the United States. PVAMU is a member of the Texas A&M University System and Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
This article is intended to give an overview of the education in Houston.
Texas has over 1,000 public school districts—all but one of the school districts in Texas are independent, separate from any form of municipal government. School districts may cross city and county boundaries. Independent school districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) oversees these districts, providing supplemental funding, but its jurisdiction is limited mostly to intervening in poorly performing districts.
ECPI University, or East Coast Polytechnic Institute, is a private, for-profit educational institution based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It provides undergraduate- and graduate-level education in an accelerated format. ECPI University has six colleges with campuses in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, and provides courses online. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Trinity Classical School is a private, classical Christian school offering college-preparatory, Christian education for grades pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade in Houston, Texas. The school is one of approximately 25 University-style schools in Texas.