A sisters' college is a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

that primarily serves as a place for the education of future and current

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

and

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s. They are not to be confused with

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

women's colleges Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stu ...

, which are designed for general education programs and do not consider the education of nuns to be their focus. Also known as "sister formation colleges," sisters' colleges are operated by congregations of religious women, such as the

Sisters of Christian Charity The Sisters of Christian Charity (S.C.C.), officially called Sisters of Christian Charity, Daughters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, is a Roman Catholic papal congregation of consecrated Religious Sisters. They were founded ...

or the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Catholic Sisters' College was founded and operated by The

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

located in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Historically, they have made at least some of their courses open to

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

women, and also men in some cases. Most feature a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

on their premises. Although previously prevalent across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, there is only one currently in operation there, that being the Assumption College for Sisters in Mendham,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Catholic women's colleges now serve as the primary providers of education to nuns in the United States, while many of the former sisters' colleges provide campuses for convents and other religious institutions, or have been transitioned into

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...

schools.

List of sisters' colleges

The following is a list of current and historical sisters' colleges. Ones listed in bold are still in operation:

Connecticut

* Diocesan Sisters College, Bloomfield (closed in 1969) * Mount Sacred Heart College, Hamden (closed in 1997)

Florida

Saint Joseph College of Florida Saint Joseph College of Florida (1890–1972) was a college operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Florida in St. Augustine and in Jensen Beach, Florida.Thurlow, Sandra Henderson, Sewall's Point, The History of a Peninsular Community on Florid ...

Jensen Beach Jensen Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,652 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Port St. Lucie, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

(began admitting lay students in 1967; closed in 1972)

Massachusetts

* College of Saint Joseph,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(closed, date unknown)

Missouri

* Marillac College,

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

(closed in 1974)

Nebraska

Servite College Servite College is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the Perth suburb of Tuart Hill, Western Australia. The school is operated by the Servite Order. History Servite College was founded by members of ...

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

(closed c. 1990s)

New Jersey

* Assumption College for Sisters, Mendham (still sisters' college) *

Englewood Cliffs College Englewood Cliffs College was a women's college for Roman Catholic nuns and laypersons in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. It was founded in 1962 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Newark originally as a sisters' college. It closed in 1974 because of ...

Englewood Cliffs Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, whose population at the 2010 United States census was 5,281.Felician College Felician University is a private Catholic university with two campuses in New Jersey, one in Lodi and one in Rutherford. It was founded as the Immaculate Conception Normal School by the Felician Sisters in 1923 and the school has changed names ...

, Lodi - Opened in 1923; accepted lay students in 1964.

New York

Catherine McAuley College Catherine McAuley College (formerly Catholic College Bendigo until 2018) is a coeducational Catholic secondary school in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The school has two campuses in Coolock and St Mary's. The Coolock campus is located in the o ...

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

(closed in 1971) *

Trocaire College Trocaire College is a private Roman Catholic college in Buffalo, New York. Founded in 1958 by the Sisters of Mercy, Trocaire College offers degrees in healthcare, business, and technology. It has an extension site in Williamsville, New York. T ...

, Buffalo (began admitting lay women in 1965)

Pennsylvania

La Roche College La Roche University is a private university in McCandless, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Divine Providence as a Roman Catholic college and now sits on an campus in McCandless within the Diocese of Pittsburgh. History ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

- Opened in 1963 as a sisters' college; accepted lay students in 1965.La Roche College

Utah

* College of Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch,

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

(closed in 1969)

Wisconsin

* Holy Family College, Manitowoc (began admitting lay women in 1957) *

Viterbo University Viterbo University is a private Catholic university in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Founded in 1890 by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Viterbo is home to three colleges with nine schools offering 48 academic programs at the associate, bac ...

La Crosse La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's populat ...

(began admitting lay women in 1934)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sisters' College * - Types of university or college