Higher Education
Ithaca is the premier university town in a region with a higher-than-average proportion of colleges and universities. During the academic year, the city population nearly doubles in size as some of the brightest students in the U.S. and the world take up residence here. The influx of students lends a youthful, vibrant, and intellectual air to the community, and supports a lively commercial and cultural scene. Ithaca is home to Cornell University, along with Ithaca College, Tompkins-Cortland Community College (TC3), and Empire State College.Cornell University was founded in 1865 and is the youngest of the eight Ivy League universities. It is the land-grant institution for New York state, and four of its seven undergraduate colleges are state-supported units known as statutory or contract colleges. State residents who enroll in the contract colleges pay a lower tuition rate than students in the private, endowed colleges and schools. The student body at Cornell includes roughly 13,500 undergraduates and 6,000 graduate students.
Ithaca College was founded in 1892 as a music conservatory. Originally located downtown, its campus was relocated to South Hill in the 1960s. Enrollment is approximately 6,000 undergraduates and 300 graduate students in five schools.