Rutgers University

Rutgers University, officially known as Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is the state's largest and most comprehensive public research university. A large public land-grant research university, Rutgers consists of three campuses across New Jersey. The institution is the nation's eighth oldest institution of higher learning, and one of only nine colonial colleges established before the American Revolution. Today it stands as an academic, health, and research institution with a broad statewide footprint — with campuses located in New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden. As of fall 2023, Rutgers University enrolls over 69,000 students across its three campuses, making it one of the largest universities in the United States.

Founding and Early History

The charter that established Queen's College was signed by William Franklin, who was Benjamin Franklin's son and the last colonial governor of New Jersey, on November 10, 1766. Shortly after the creation of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) by Presbyterians in 1746, ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, seeking autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs in the Thirteen Colonies, sought to establish a college. At that time, those who wanted to become ministers within the church had to travel to the Netherlands to be trained and ordained, and many affairs of churches in the American colonies were managed from Europe. Thus, the ministers sought to create a governing body to give local autonomy to the church in the colonies.

The school now called Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered on November 10, 1766, as "the trustees of Queen's College, in New-Jersey" in honor of King George III's Queen-consort, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In its early years, due to a lack of funds, Queen's College was closed for two extended periods. Early trustees considered merging the college with the College of New Jersey, in Princeton, but the measure failed by one vote. They later considered relocating it to New York City. In 1808, after raising $12,000, the college temporarily reopened and broke ground on a building of its own, called "Old Queens," designed by architect John McComb Jr. The college's third president, Ira Condict, laid the cornerstone on April 27, 1809.

In 1825, Queen's College was renamed Rutgers College in honor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, whose substantial gift to the school had stabilized its finances during a period of uncertainty. With the development of graduated education, Rutgers College was renamed Rutgers University in 1924.

From Land-Grant College to State University

A pivotal moment in Rutgers' development came in 1864. With the establishment of the nation's land-grant colleges in response to the Industrial Revolution, Rutgers prevailed over Princeton in 1864 to become New Jersey's land-grant institution, charged with offering educational access to a wider range of students in order to cultivate a new workforce and the next generation of thought-leaders. Rutgers College became the land-grant college of New Jersey in 1864 under the Morrill Act of 1862, resulting in the establishment of the Rutgers Scientific School, featuring departments of agriculture, engineering, and chemistry. The Rutgers Scientific School would expand over the years to grow into the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (1880) and divide into the College of Engineering (1914) and the College of Agriculture (1921).

At present, Rutgers is unique as the only university in the United States that is a colonial chartered college (1766), a land-grant institution (1864), and a state university (1945/1956).

In 1945 and 1956, state legislative acts designated Rutgers as The State University of New Jersey, a public institution. The University of Newark (now Rutgers University–Newark) joined Rutgers in 1946, followed by the College of South Jersey (now Rutgers University–Camden) in 1950, which gave Rutgers a statewide presence. In 1989, Rutgers University–New Brunswick was invited to join the Association of American Universities, making Rutgers' flagship one of the top 62 research universities in North America.

In 2013, the university underwent its most significant modern expansion. Rutgers' standing as a leading university reached new heights in 2013. With the integration of Rutgers University with most of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences was established, dramatically expanding Rutgers' mission to include academic medicine and wide-ranging patient care. In 2013, Rutgers also joined the Big Ten Conference and Academic Alliance.

Campuses and Academic Structure

Rutgers operates three primary campuses located across New Jersey, each serving a distinct region of the state.

The flagship campus, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, anchors the institution's academic identity. Since colonial times, Rutgers' historic core has been located along College Avenue at the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which includes the College Avenue Campus, as well as Douglass campus, Cook campus, both primarily in the city of New Brunswick, and both the Busch and Livingston campuses on the north side of the Raritan River in Piscataway, as well as many buildings throughout downtown New Brunswick. The New Brunswick campus is composed of several smaller campuses that are some distances away from each other: College Avenue, Busch, Livingston, Cook, and Douglass, the latter two sometimes referred to as "Cook/Douglass," as they are adjacent and intertwined. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 37,985 (fall 2024), and the campus size is 2,723 acres. The student-faculty ratio at Rutgers University–New Brunswick is 16:1, and it utilizes a semester-based academic calendar.

Rutgers University–Newark is the university's urban campus, located in New Jersey's largest city. According to U.S. News & World Report, Rutgers–Newark is the most diverse national university in the United States. Rutgers University–Newark is experiencing record-breaking growth, having welcomed 2,645 undergraduate students in its most recent entering class — the largest incoming class in its history. Total enrollment rose to 11,667, a 3% increase over the previous year, fueled by a 17% rise in applications.

Rutgers University–Camden, the southernmost campus, serves the Delaware Valley region. Combined, these campuses comprise 33 degree-granting schools and colleges, offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels of study.

On the research side, Rutgers maintains a robust infrastructure of specialized facilities. Among its more than 200 research centers and institutes are the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, the Institute of Jazz Studies, and the Center for Turfgrass Science. Other research facilities include the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository and the Rutgers Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory. Rutgers is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university, as well as the largest university in the state.

Athletics

Rutgers athletics carries a unique distinction in American sports history. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known as the "Birthplace of College Football," hosting the first ever intercollegiate football game on November 6, 1869, in which Rutgers defeated a team from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) with a score of 6 runs to 4.

Among the first American schools to participate in intercollegiate athletics, Rutgers currently fields 24 teams in the Big Ten Conference, which participates in Division I competition, as sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), in sports including baseball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, swimming and diving, wrestling, and volleyball. The athletic programs compete under the name Scarlet Knights, after the Rutgers University mascot chosen in 1955 by the student body.

On July 1, 2014, Rutgers became a member of the Big Ten athletic conference, after paying an $11.5 million exit fee to the American Athletic Conference. The move to the Big Ten elevated the university's national athletic and academic profile. An increase in enrollment applications of 12% upon joining the Big Ten Conference, and applicants who score 20 points higher on the SAT would tend to bear that out.

In men's basketball, the Scarlet Knights have enjoyed notable moments. Rutgers made the NCAA Final Four in 1976. In 2025, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey made history in the NBA Draft, being selected as the highest Scarlet Knights drafted — with picks second and fifth overall, respectively.

Notable Alumni and Cultural Legacy

Rutgers has produced alumni who have made lasting marks on American and global culture. Among the most celebrated is Paul Robeson. The son of a runaway slave, Robeson attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick on an academic scholarship, becoming the university's third Black student and its first Black football player. An extraordinary athlete, he won 15 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was a two-time All-American in football who is in the College Football Hall of Fame. He was valedictorian of his graduating class in 1919.

After graduation, Robeson earned a law degree from Columbia Law School but decided to use his artistic talents in theater and music to promote African and African-American history and culture. Over nearly four decades, he achieved worldwide acclaim as a vocalist and actor on stage and screen. Paul Robeson is the only alumnus to have a building named after him on each of the three Rutgers campuses. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Robeson's graduation, Rutgers University named an open-air plaza after him on April 12, 2019. The plaza, next to the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus, features eight black granite panels with details of Robeson's life.

Rutgers' alumni network extends into nearly every field of public life. Rutgers boasts a network of more than 600,000 alumni, who have made significant contributions in a variety of fields. Marking Rutgers' 250th anniversary in 2016, President Barack Obama delivered the university commencement address and received an honorary doctor of laws degree before more than 50,000 guests, graduates, and faculty and staff. Speaking of Rutgers, Obama described it "as one of the finest research institutions in America."

The university has also engaged seriously with questions of its own history. Like many colleges founded in the U.S. during this time, Rutgers benefited from slave labor and funds derived from purchasing and selling enslaved people. Research undertaken at the university in the 2010s began to uncover and document these connections, including the university's foundation on land taken from the indigenous Lenape people.

Rankings and Academic Distinction

In the 2026 edition of Best Colleges, Rutgers University–New Brunswick is ranked No. 42 in National Universities by U.S. News & World Report. It is also ranked No. 16 in Top Public Schools. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and is a member of the Association of American Universities and the Universities Research Association.

In specialized academic rankings, Rutgers performs strongly across a range of fields. The Shanghai Ranking places Rutgers among the top programs in the world in subjects including Oceanography, Mathematics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Food Science and Technology, and Sociology. Rutgers generates $550 million in annual sponsored research grants and $700 million annually in R&D expenditures.

Rutgers University maintains an active presence in the health care sector. Rutgers Health, the academic health center of the university, is a dedicated wing that, in association with RWJBarnabas Health, caters to the health care needs of 17 New Jersey counties. Rutgers is New Jersey's premier, university-based health care provider, with some 1.7 million annual patient visits through its faculty practices, centers, clinics, and institutes.