List of colleges and universities in Massachusetts
There are one hundred and fourteen colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that are listed under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. These institutions include nine research universities, twenty-one master's universities, and thirty-four special-focus institutions. This number excludes the newly reopened Atlantic Union College, which has yet to receive accreditation. Eighty-five of Massachusetts' post-secondary institutions are private, of which five are for-profit. Thirty of the state's post-secondary institutions are public, a number which excludes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was founded by the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, but later became a private institution.
Springfield, Massachusetts
Several of Greater Springfield's institutions rank among the most prestigious in the world. For example, Amherst College, north of Springfield, and Smith College, north of Springfield, consistently rank among America's top 10 liberal arts colleges. Mount Holyoke College – the United States' first women's college – consistently ranks among America's Top 15 colleges, and it is located only north of Springfield. Hampshire College is located north of Springfield. The 30,000-student University of Massachusetts Amherst is located north of Springfield. Approximately west of Springfield, across the Memorial Bridge in Westfield, is Westfield State University, founded by noted education reformer Horace Mann. Westfield was the first university in America to admit students without regard to sex, race, or economic status.