ruins of Liberty Hall Academy at Washington and Lee University
The English who arrived at Jamestown in 1607 included educated gentlemen, and the Reverend Robert Hunt provided some moral philosophy education through his sermons - even after his library burned in January, 1608. However, book learning was not a priority in colonial Virginia. The first colonists received a more-valuable practical education from the Algonquians (and the school of hard knocks) on how to survive in the New World.
It took 11 years after arriving at Jamestown for the English to establish the first public school in Virginia - and it was not for the education of the colonists. A college for the education of the Powhatan "Indians" was chartered in 1618, as part of the colonial policy to assimilate the Native Americans into English culture.
George Thorpe led the effort to build the college at Henricus. It was financed by contributions from England, and supported by a 10,000 acre land grant. In the uprising of 1622 Thorpe was killed, Henricus was destroyed, and plans for peaceful co-existence between the colonists and the Native Americans were replaced by reprisals and expulsion of the Native Americans from areas settled by the English.
The next publicly-funded school in Virginia was William and Mary, the second-oldest (surviving) college in North America. It was chartered in 1693, and was one of only 9 colleges in the colonies at the time of the American Revolution.1 The College Building housed the General Assembly when it first met in Williamsburg in 1700, until the first Capitol was completed four years later. (The College Building burned in 1705, and the Sir Christopher Wren Building occupies the site today.) By the start of the Eighteenth Century, the security threat from the Algonquian Indians in Tidewater had disappeared. The new college included an "indian school," and in 1723 the Brafferton Building was constructed to provide a place "for the maintaining and educating such and so many of the ingenious scholars, natives of this colony, as they shall think fit." 2
During the colonial era, a few wealthy individuals such as Benjamin Symms and Thomas Eaton endowed about 10 local schools that offered free education. 3 More commonly, "old field schools" were elementary schools created (often in abandoned old fields) where parents would voluntarily pay tuition for a teacher to educate their children in the basics. A more-advanced education, including reading the classics and learning Greek and Latin, was provided at "academies" supported by wealthy parents. (Washington and Lee University evolved from academies. Augusta Academy was founded in 1749, then moved to Lexington during the American Revolution and renamed Liberty Hall Academy.)
Wealthy families such as the Carters and Lees hired private tutors, and those without wealth depended upon "home schooling." George Washington never received a formal education. His father died when he was 11 years old and family finances could not afford to send the younger children to a school. Washington taught himself, and benefitted from neighbors such as the Fairfax family to learn proper behavior, the rules of civility - and even the skill of surveying.
After the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson proposed a bill "for the more general diffusion of learning," as part of his campaign to increase the opportunity for individuals who were not part of the "artificial aristocracy" of the those who had excessive opportunity for obtaining power through family connections or wealth. Jefferson had received formal education, including studies at William and Mary. Rather than advocate universal K-12 education, he sought to identify the best students at several levels and provide additional education to just the "most promising subjects." As Jefferson described his proposal in 1786, he proposed 4
The General Assembly rejected Jefferson's proposal, but did charter the University of Virginia in 1819. That school was located just a few miles away from Jefferson's home at Monticello, and far from the Tidewater region - offering students a chance to experience small farm culture rather than the plantation aristocracy near Williamsburg.
A state Literary Fund was established in 1810 to support education of the indigent poor. However, it was not until the the Confederacy was defeated in 1865 that Virginia culture was transformed by both the abolition of slavery and the creation of a free public school system supported by state/local taxes. To reenter the Union and end Reconstruction, the US Congress forced Virginia to adopt a new state constitution. The 1869 Underwood Constitution established a free public school system for Virginia students from all races, but segregated schools were traditional in the state for the next century.
The top ten colleges in raising funds in fiscal 2005 were:6
| University of Virginia | $174,370,854 |
| Virginia Tech | $73,844,006 |
| College of William and Mary | $ 48,628,436 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | $36,132,490 |
| Washington and Lee University | $22,138,849 |
| George Mason University | $19,583,377 |
| University of Richmond | $18,871,958 |
| Radford University | $12,192,556 |
| Old Dominion University | $10,400,462 |
| Emory & Henry College | $9,989,615 |
The Northern Virginia Community College generates the highest number of graduates annually in Virginia, and is in the top 20 nationally:7
| Enrollment of the 20 largest degree-granting college and university campuses: Fall 2002 | |||
| Institution | State |
Rank |
Total Enrollment |
| Miami-Dade Community College | Florida |
1 |
54,926 |
| University of Texas at Austin | Texas |
2 |
52,261 |
| Ohio State University, Main Campus | Ohio |
3 |
49,676 |
| University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | Minnesota |
4 |
48,677 |
| University of Phoenix, Online Campus | Arizona |
5 |
48,085 |
| University of Florida | Florida |
6 |
47,373 |
| Arizona State University, Main Campus | Arizona |
7 |
47,359 |
| Texas A&M University | Texas |
8 |
45,083 |
| Michigan State University | Michigan |
9 |
44,937 |
| City College of San Francisco | California | 10 |
42,975 |
Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus | Pennsylvania |
11 |
41,445 |
| University of Wisconsin, Madison | Wisconsin |
12 |
40,884 |
| Purdue University, Main Campus | Indiana |
13 |
40,117 |
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Illinois |
14 |
39,999 |
| University of Washington, Seattle | Washington |
15 |
39,882 |
| Houston Community College System | Texas |
16 |
39,528 |
| Northern Virginia Community College | Virginia |
17 |
39,129 |
| University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | Michigan | 18 |
38,972 |
| Indiana University, Bloomington | Indiana |
19 |
38,903 |
| University of South Florida | Florida |
20 |
38,854 |