University of the Cumberlands, first called Williamsburg Institute, was founded on January 7, 1889.At the 1887 annual meeting of the Mount Zion Association, representatives from 18 eastern Kentucky Baptist churches discussed plans to provide Higher education in the Kentucky mountains.The college was incorporated by the Kentuky State legislature on April 6, 1888.It was originally known as Williamsburg Institute, then as Cumberland College, and now as University of the Cumberlands.

Western New England University is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. In recognition of its master's and doctoral programs, the institution officially changed its name from Western New England College to Western New England University on July 1, 2011. This marked the return of "university" to the school's name, exactly 60 years after separating from Northeastern University.

The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. It is ranked among the top universities in the world by major college and university rankings, and admission to its programs is considered highly selective. UT Austin is considered one of the United States's Public Ivies.  It joined the Association of American Universities in 1929.  As of November 2020, 13 Nobel Prize winners, 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 Turing Award winners, 2 Fields Medal recipients, 2 Wolf Prize winners, and 2 Abel Prize prize winners have been affiliated with the school as alumni.

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, it is the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee system, with ten undergraduate colleges and eleven graduate colleges. The University of Tennessee is the only university in the nation to have three presidential paper editing projects. The university holds collections of the papers of all three U.S. presidents from Tennessee—Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson. Nine of its alumni have been selected as Rhodes Scholars, and one alumnus, James M. Buchanan, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economics. UT is one of the oldest public universities in the United States and the oldest secular institution west of the Eastern Continental Divide.

The University of Tampa is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern association of colleges and schools. In 1931, Frederic H. Spaulding, the principal of Tampa's Hillsborough high school, established the private Tampa Junior College to serve as one of the first institutions of higher education in the Tampa Bay area. The college offered a limited selection of degree programs, with most classes held in the evening on the campus of Hillsborough High School.

The University of South Florida is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida. It is one of 12 members of the State university system of Florida. USF is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern association of colleges and schools. USF is designated by the Florida board of governors as one of three Preeminent State Research Universities. In its 2018 ranking, the Intellectual property owners association placed USF 1st in Florida, 7th in the United States, and 16th worldwide in the number of US patents granted.

The University of North Alabama is a public university in Florence, Alabama. It is the state's oldest public university. Twenty-one local college trustees were listed in Acts of Alabama, Eleventh Annual Session. The University of North Alabama was founded as LaGrange College in 1830. It was re-established in 1872 as the first state-supported teacher's college south of the Ohio River. A year later, it became one of the nation's first coeducational colleges.

The University of Utah is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest institution of higher education. It received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900.

The University of South Carolina is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina. It has seven satellite campuses throughout the state. The university is classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities with Highest Research Activity".It also houses the largest collection of Robert Burns and Scottish literature materials outside Scotland, and the world's largest Ernest Hemingway collection. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, Columbia is the flagship institution of the University of South Carolina System.

Youngstown State University is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. In 1921, the school became known as the Youngstown Institute of Technology and offered its first evening courses. In 1955, the name was changed to Youngstown University to reflect the school's broadening curriculum. On September 1, 1967, after becoming a public institution, Youngstown University became officially known as Youngstown State University. The university has been ranked less than 600th in US College Rankings 2022 by the Times Higher Education.

Yeshiva University has its roots in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva founded in 1886 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a cheder-style elementary school founded by Eastern European immigrants that offered the study of Talmud along with some secular education, including instruction in Englishivahiva University is an independent institution chartered by New York St ate. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and by several professional agencies. It is classified among "Doctoral/Professional Universities”.

Wright State University first opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, occupying only a single building. Groundwork on forming the institution began in 1961 during a time when the region lacked a public university for higher education. The university has the vision to be a diverse & inclusive university that positively transforms the educational, economic, and social fabric of the communities.

The school was founded in 1884 as Woodbury's Business College by its namesake, F. C. Woodbury, formerly a partner in Heald's Business College in San Francisco, thus making it the second oldest institution of higher learning in Los Angeles and one of the oldest business schools west of Chicago. The original mission of Woodbury University was to educate Los Angeles residents in the practical areas of business. The university ranked first among western regional universities in the percentage of international students (24%) in the 2018 U.S. News & World Report College Rankings. In 2014, Money Magazine ranked Woodbury University 15th nationally out of the top 25 "Colleges That Add the Most Value".

It was founded in 1968 as Wilmington College by educator Dr. Donald E. Ross. As of 2016, the university served a total student body of 20,522 undergraduate and postgraduate students in nearly 100 degree and certificate programs. Founded as Wilmington College, the institution officially became Wilmington University on September 10, 2007, after the approval of the board of trustees and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The name was changed to reflect the emphasis on undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs.

Wichita State University began in 1886 as a private Congregational preparatory school, founded by Rev. Joseph Homer Parker. Initially it was referred to as "Young Ladies College", "Wichita Ladies College", and "Congregational Female College". Wichita is the commercial, financial, medical, cultural and entertainment hub of the state.Wichita State University was ranked the 52nd top college in the United States in 2014 by the Social Mobility Index college rankings. Wichita State is placed among National Universities in the United States in rankings done by U.S. News & World Report.