Alabama Colleges & Universities

Athens, AL (Limestone County) — Public upper-division university, est. 1822; one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Alabama; accepts only transfer students from two-year colleges; a unique educational model that provides degree-completion pathways for community college graduates across north Alabama; located in the Tennessee Valley; strong business, education, and computer information systems programs

Auburn, AL — Public land-grant research university, est. 1856; home of the Tigers; SEC member; "War Eagle!" rival of Alabama; national football champions (1957, 2010); alma mater of Bo Jackson (1985 Heisman Trophy), Charles Barkley, Pat Sullivan (1971 Heisman), Cam Newton (2010 Heisman), and Tucker Fredrickson; one of the most passionate fan bases in college football

Homewood (Birmingham area), AL — Private Baptist university, est. 1841; home of the Bulldogs; Southern Conference member; one of the oldest universities in Alabama; located on a picturesque 247-acre campus in the affluent Homewood community adjacent to Birmingham; nationally accredited pharmacy (McWhorter School of Pharmacy) and law (Cumberland School of Law) programs; one of the most respected private universities in the Southeast

Birmingham, AL — Public research university, est. 1969; home of the UAB Blazers; Conference USA member; a nationally ranked research institution with particular strength in medicine, public health, and biomedical engineering; its health system is one of the largest employers in Alabama; UAB football was discontinued in 2014 and revived in 2017 following overwhelming public demand

Daphne, AL (Baldwin County; Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay) — Private graduate institution, est. 1972; the only university in the world devoted exclusively to graduate education in sport; awards degrees in sport management, sport coaching, sport fitness, and sport studies; uniquely fitting for a state that produced Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Bo Jackson, Satchel Paige, and Joe Louis — perhaps the greatest concentration of legendary athletic talent born in any single American state

Fairfield (Birmingham area), AL — Private HBCU, est. 1898; home of the Golden Bears; Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) member; affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; historically significant institution in Jefferson County; located in Fairfield, a community in the Birmingham metropolitan area with deep historical ties to the steel industry and the African American working class; strong business, social work, and education programs

Florence, AL — Public university, est. 1830; home of the Lions; ASUN Conference member; one of the oldest universities in Alabama, in the heart of the Tennessee Valley's Shoals region; located in Florence, a city inseparably linked to the history of American music — FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio produced recordings by Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, and Percy Sledge within miles of campus; strong music, business, and education programs

Huntsville, AL — Private HBCU, est. 1896; home of the Ambassadors; affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church; one of the historically Black Seventh-day Adventist institutions in the world; strong health sciences (nursing, public health), theology, and music programs; located on a historic 105-acre campus in northwest Huntsville; known nationally for its distinguished music program and commitment to holistic education grounded in Adventist faith values

Huntsville, AL — Public research university, est. 1950; home of the UAH Chargers; WCHA hockey member; located in the heart of the U.S. space and defense research community, adjacent to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal; nationally ranked engineering and computer science programs; one of the top research universities in the Southeast by R&D expenditure per faculty

Jacksonville, AL (Calhoun County) — Public university, est. 1883; home of the Gamecocks; ASUN Conference member; multiple FCS national championship appearances and playoff runs; one of the most successful FCS football programs over the past three decades; located in the Piedmont region of northeast Alabama; strong criminal justice, nursing, and education programs; not to be confused with Jacksonville, Florida

Livingston, AL (Sumter County) — Public university, est. 1835; home of the Tigers; Gulf South Conference (Division II) member; one of the oldest public universities in Alabama; serves the rural Black Belt region of west Alabama; strong education, nursing, and natural sciences programs; one of the state's most important institutions for educating students from the historically underserved communities of west Alabama

Mobile, AL — Private Jesuit liberal arts college, est. 1830; home of the Badgers; the oldest Catholic college in the Southeast and the third-oldest Jesuit university in the United States; one of the most historically significant academic institutions in Alabama; Spring Hill was one of the few Southern colleges to integrate voluntarily before the Civil Rights Act; its Mission Hill campus overlooks Mobile Bay; strong philosophy, biology, and business programs in the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis

Mobile, AL — Public research university, est. 1963; home of the Jaguars; Sun Belt Conference member; the largest university on the Alabama Gulf Coast; strong health sciences (including its own medical school and affiliated children's hospital); rapidly growing research enterprise in the fields of marine science, medicine, and engineering; serves the Mobile Bay region and the broader Gulf Coast community

Montevallo, AL (Shelby County) — Public liberal arts university, est. 1896; home of the Falcons; the only public liberal arts university in Alabama; known for its College Night theatrical tradition — an annual competition between Purple and Gold student organizations dating to 1919 that is one of the oldest continuous collegiate traditions in America; consistently ranked among the top regional universities in the South; strong fine arts, communication, and education programs

Montgomery, AL — Public HBCU, est. 1867; home of the Hornets; Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) member; one of the oldest HBCUs in the South, founded in the Reconstruction era; historically significant in the Civil Rights Movement — its students helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and sit-ins across Alabama; strong education, health sciences, and business programs; alma mater of generations of Alabama's Black educators, lawyers, and community leaders

Montgomery, AL — Public university, est. 1967; home of the Warhawks; a branch campus of Auburn University serving the River Region; strong business, liberal arts, and nursing programs; located in the Alabama state capital, providing access to state government internships and career pathways; serves transfer students and working adults across the Montgomery metropolitan area as part of the Auburn University system

Montgomery, AL — Private Christian university, est. 1942; home of the Eagles; affiliated with the Churches of Christ; strong pre-law, criminal justice, and nursing programs; the Jones School of Law is one of the ABA-accredited law schools in Alabama; five-campus university serving students across Alabama and online; consistently recognized for its commitment to Christian higher education in the tradition of the Restoration Movement

Montgomery, AL — Private United Methodist liberal arts college, est. 1854; home of the Hawks; USA South Athletic Conference (Division III) member; one of the oldest private colleges in Alabama; historic Pratt Campus is one of the most beautiful collegiate environments in the state; strong business, biology, and communication programs; named for Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, an 18th-century philanthropist and Methodist reformer

Normal, AL (Huntsville metropolitan area) — Public HBCU land-grant university, est. 1875; home of the Bulldogs; Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) member; one of Alabama's most historically significant HBCUs; alma mater of John Stallworth (Pro Football Hall of Fame 2002; Pittsburgh Steelers; four-time Super Bowl champion); strong agriculture, engineering, and education programs; located just north of Huntsville in the Tennessee Valley

Selma, AL — Private HBCU, est. 1878; affiliated with the Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention; one of the oldest HBCUs in Alabama; located in historic Selma, the focal point of the 1965 Voting Rights marches — the Bloody Sunday confrontation on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, and the subsequent 54-mile march to Montgomery under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were defining events of the American Civil Rights Movement; strong theology, business, and education programs

Talladega, AL — Private HBCU, est. 1867; home of the Tornadoes; the oldest private liberal arts HBCU in Alabama; founded at the end of the Civil War by two formerly enslaved men, William Savery and Thomas Tarrant, who converted a shoe shop into a school with 140 students; home of the famous Amistad Murals by artist Hale Woodruff (1939) — a dramatic visual narrative of the 1839 slave ship revolt; strong liberal arts, business, and education programs in one of Alabama's most historically significant small colleges

Troy, AL — Public university, est. 1887; home of the Trojans; Sun Belt Conference member; multiple Sun Belt football championships; one of the most geographically dispersed universities in the world with campuses across Alabama and internationally; alma mater of Charlie Pell (Florida head coach) and multiple NFL players; located in Pike County in the Alabama Wiregrass region

Tuscaloosa, AL — Private HBCU, est. 1876; home of the Tigers; Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) member; affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA); one of Alabama's historic Black colleges, founded just eleven years after the end of the Civil War to train Black ministers and educators; located in Tuscaloosa, in close proximity to the University of Alabama; strong education, computer science, and pre-health programs

Tuscaloosa, AL — Public flagship research university, est. 1831; home of the Crimson Tide; SEC member; 18 national football championships including six under Nick Saban (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020); alma mater of Bart Starr, Kenny Stabler, Ozzie Newsome, John Hannah, Joe Namath, and Derrick Thomas; one of the most successful college football programs in the history of the sport

Tuskegee, AL — Private HBCU, est. 1881 by Booker T. Washington; home of the Golden Tigers; one of the most historically significant universities in American history; founded the year after the Civil War with a single teacher (Booker T. Washington himself) and a commitment to practical education for freed enslaved people; home of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II — the first African American military aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces; alma mater of Ralph Ellison and Lionel Richie; pioneering research in agriculture (George Washington Carver) and veterinary medicine